Materials Research Bulletin, Vol.102, 304-310, 2018
The effect of Gd3+ ions on fabrication and luminescence properties of Nd3+-doped (Ca1-xGdx)F2+x transparent ceramics
Nd:(Ca1-xGdx)F2+x (x = 0.01-0.1) transparent ceramics were fabricated by hot-pressing the co-precipitated synthetic nanopowders in vacuum. The as-fabricated Nd:(Ca1-xGdx)F2+x transparent ceramics exhibit nearly pore free and uniform microstructure, the in-line transmittance of all samples is beyond 86% at 1064 nm. The effect of Gd(3+ )ions on the transparency and grain size of Nd:(Ca1-xGdx)F2+x transparent ceramics has been demonstrated. The dependence of emission Intensity and lifetime on Gd3+ concentration for Nd:(Ca1-xGdx)F(2+x )transparent ceramics is investigated and discussed. The introducing of Gd3+ is found to increase emission intensity and lifetime dramatically. The fitting results of fluorescence decay curves show the lifetime of 1 at.% Nd:(Ca0.9Gd0.1)F-2.1 transparent ceramic is to be 373.80 mu s which is greatly larger than that of 1 at.% Nd:CaF2 transparent ceramic. The spectroscopic parameters of Nd:(Ca1-xGdx)F2+x transparent ceramics and other Nd3+- doped optical materials have been compared and discussed.