Sol-gel synthesis of doped vitreous materials with the use of modified aerosils

A novel variant of the sol-gel synthesis of silica glasses and optical composites containing transition-metal ions and nanoparticles is developed. Xerogels and Classes containing 10- to 46-nm particles are prepared with the use of aerosils modified by chromium oxide. The structural and physicochemical properties of chromium oxide-modified silica samples are investigated by X-ray powder diffraction, differential thermal analysis, thermal gravimetric analysis, and IR spectroscopy. The optical properties of transparent samples are examined using the transmission spectra and the refractive index distribution over the cross section of the xerogel preform. Xerogels and glasses containing nanoparticles of metallic copper and CuxSe are formed in the tet-raethoxysilane-aerosil-copper nitrate system. An analysis of the optical properties of the nanocomposites demonstrates that SiO2 : CuxSe nanocomposites can be used as passive Q switches.