Preparation and characterization of neodymium-doped oxyfluoride glass-ceramics

Nd3+-doped transparent oxyfluoride glass ceramics containing CaF2 was prepared through controlled crystallization of melt-quenched glass. The sample is characterized by DTA, XRD and FEG-ESEM. The result indicates that the main phase of crystal is CaF2 and the crystalline particle size is 15 nm. The optical transmittance is about 78%-87% in the visible region and 84%-93% in the near-infrared region. Fluorescence measurements exhibit a stronger emission especially at 1060 nm in the glass ceramics than in the precursor glass, and a larger excited emission section value than the precursor glass, due to the incorporation of Nd3+ into CaF2 during the crystallization.