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Preparation and Characterization of High‐Purity Metal Fluorides for Photonic Applications
Author(s) -
Patterson Wendy M.,
Stark Peter C.,
Yoshida Thomas M.,
SheikBahae Mansoor,
Hehlen Markus P.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1551-2916.2011.04641.x
Subject(s) - impurity , fluoride , materials science , metal , mass spectrometry , analytical chemistry (journal) , inductively coupled plasma , inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry , thorium , chemistry , inorganic chemistry , metallurgy , plasma , uranium , chromatography , physics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
We combine chelate‐assisted solvent extraction ( CASE ) and hot hydrogen fluoride gas treatment to enable a general method for the preparation of high‐purity binary metal fluorides. The fluorozirconate glass ZBLANI:Yb 3+ (ZrF 4 –BaF 2 –LaF 3 –AlF 3 –NaF–InF 3 –YbF 3 ) , a solid‐state laser‐cooling material, is used as a test case to quantitatively assess the effectiveness of the purification method. The reduction of transition‐metal and oxygen‐based impurities is quantified directly by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry ( ICP‐MS ) and indirectly by laser‐induced cooling, respectively. The concentrations of Cu, Fe, Co, Ni, V, Cr, Mn, and Zn impurities in the ZrCl 2 O precursor solution were measured individually by ICP‐MS at various stages of the purification process. CASE was found to reduce the total transition‐metal concentration from 72500 to ~100 ppb. Laser cooling was most efficient in ZBLANI:Yb 3+ glass fabricated from CASE ‐purified metal fluoride precursors, confirming the results of the ICP‐MS analysis and demonstrating the effectiveness of the purification methods in a finished optical material. High‐purity metal fluorides prepared by the methods presented herein will enable new high‐performance optical materials for solid‐state optical refrigerators, crystals for vacuum ultraviolet ( VUV ) spectroscopy of the Thorium‐229 nucleus, VUV optics, fibers, and thin‐film coatings.