Correlation between Radiative Transition Probabilities of Nd ³⁺ and Composition in Silicate, Borate, and Phosphate Glasses

Abstract

Compositional dependence of spontaneous emission probabilities between initial 4 F 3/2 and terminal 4 I J J = 9/2, 11/2, 13/2, 15/2) levels of Nd 3+ were studied for about 90 samples of silicate, borate, and phosphate glasses using the Judd–Ofelt theory. The effect of the covalency of the Nd–O bond on the magnitude of intensity parameters was estimated from the variation of spectral profiles of the 4 I 9/2 → 4 G 5/2 , 2 G 7/2 and 4 F 7/2 , 4 S 3/2 transitions. Intensity parameters Ω 4 and Ω 6 and the spontaneous emission probabilities were strongly affected by the ionic packing ratio of the glass host. The results were discussed in terms of the site selectivity of Nd 3+ ions in glasses.