Enhanced luminescence from transparent Ni 2+-doped MgO–Al 2O 3–SiO 2 glass ceramics by Ga 2O 3 addition

Abstract

Transparent Ni 2+-doped MgO–Al 2O 3–SiO 2 glass ceramics without and with Ga 2O 3 were synthetized. The precipitation of spinel nanocrystals, which was identified as solid solutions in the glass ceramics, could be favored by Ga 2O 3 addition and their sizes were about 7.6 nm in diameter. The luminescent intensity of the Ni 2+-doped glass ceramics was largely enhanced by Ga 2O 3 addition which could mainly be caused by increasing of Ni 2+ in the octahedral sites and the reduction of the mean frequency of phonon density of states in the spinel nanocrystals of solid solutions. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of emissions for the glass ceramics with different Ga 2O 3 content was all more than 200 nm. The emission lifetime increased with the Ga 2O 3 content and the longest lifetime is about 250 μs. The Ni 2+-doped transparent glass ceramics with Ga 2O 3 addition have potential application as broadband optical amplifier and laser materials.