Abstract
The first 3-D direct observation of clusters of Nd oxide inside silicate glasses was achieved using atom probe tomography. Three-dimensional elemental maps of major chemical elements in glasses such as Si, Al, Zn and O showed no evidence of regions that had concentrations higher than the average values, whereas the Nd aggregated into regions of high concentration. Elemental maps of Nd and Pb recorded from the glasses containing PbS QDs showed highly-concentrated areas of both elements at the same locations; this result indicates that PbS QDs formation started in association with the Nd clusters.
Highlights
Rare-earth (RE)-doped glasses have been commercially used as signal amplifiers for optical communication and solid-state lasers that exploit the radiative f-f electronic transitions of trivalent RE ions[1,2,3,4,5]
We propose how RE clusters affect nucleation and growth of Quantum dots (QDs) in glasses
Specimens for Atom probe tomography (APT) analysis were prepared by a dual-beam focused ion beam (FIB; FEI, Helios Nano-Lab 650) method using the standard lift-out technique designed for insulating materials (Fig. 1)[34,35,36]
Summary
Rare-earth (RE)-doped glasses have been commercially used as signal amplifiers for optical communication and solid-state lasers that exploit the radiative f-f electronic transitions of trivalent RE ions[1,2,3,4,5]. Results Specimen preparation using a dual beam focused ion beam method. Specimens for APT analysis were prepared by a dual-beam focused ion beam (FIB; FEI, Helios Nano-Lab 650) method using the standard lift-out technique designed for insulating materials (Fig. 1)[34,35,36].
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