A novel Nd 3+ ‐doped MgO‐Al 2 O 3 ‐SiO 2 ‐based transparent glass‐ceramics: Toward excellent fluorescence properties

Generally, glass‐ceramics have superior properties compared to their parent glasses. Here, we prepared a novel Nd 3+ ‐doped MgO‐Al 2 O 3 ‐SiO 2 ‐based transparent glass‐ceramics with excellent fluorescence properties. The effects of Nd 2 O 3 content on the structure and properties of glass‐ceramics were studied, aiming to provide a key guidance for preparing this transparent glass‐ceramics. The results revealed that the glass stability increased originally and then decreased with increasing Nd 2 O 3 content, so did the variation of wavenumbers in infrared spectra. And these glass‐ceramics are mainly composed of cordierite with residual glassy phase. The three phenomenological intensity parameters (Ω 2,4,6 ) and radiative properties were estimated by Judd‐Ofelt theory, and the values of Ω 2 first decreased and then increased with increasing Nd 2 O 3 content. Three main emission peaks ascribed to the transitions from 4 F 3/2 to 4 I 9/2 , 4 I 11/2 , 4 I 13/2 at 898, 1057, 1330   nm were observed, respectively. The branching ratios for 4 F 3/2 → 4 I 11/2 transition increased as the Nd 2 O 3 content raised, and the fluorescence lifetimes of the 4 F 3/2 level were found to increase first and then decrease with Nd 2 O 3 content (from 181 to 726 μs). The excellent fluorescence properties indicate that this novel glass‐ceramics can be used as a potential solid‐state optical functional material for 1.06 μm laser emission.