Optical properties of neodymium activated crystalline nanostructures grown in transparent porous glass

Abstract

Optical properties of neodymium self-activated nanocrystals grown in porous glass have been investigated. Mechanisms responsible for the opacity of pores glasses impregnated with solutions have been studied. Highly transparent glasses with nanocrystals grown in pores have been manufactured. Absorption, fluorescence, and fluorescence decay dynamic measurements were used to identify the phases grown in pores. We have shown that the major phase synthesized in the pores are crystal-like structures similar to that in bulk crystals. Optical properties of nanosize crystals differ from those in bulk single crystals because of specific size effects.