Articolo in rivista, 2022, ENG, 10.1016/j.optmat.2022.112577

Sol-gel-derived transparent glass-ceramics for photonics

Thi Ngoc Lam Tran, Anna Szczurek, Alice Carlotto, Stefano Varas, Giancarlo C.Righini, Maurizio Ferrari, Justyna Krzak, Anna Lukowiak, Alessandro Chiasera

Thi Ngoc Lam Tran a,b,c Anna Szczurek a,d Alice Carlotto a,e Stefano Varas a Giancarlo C.Righini f Maurizio Ferrari a Justyna Krzak d Anna Lukowiak g Alessandro Chiasera a a IFN-CNR CSMFO Lab. and FBK Photonics Unit, Via alla Cascata 56/C Povo, 38123, Trento, Italy b Department of Physics, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133, Milano, Italy c Department of Materials Technology, Faculty of Applied Science, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education, Vo Van Ngan Street 1, Thu Duc District, 720214, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam d Department of Mechanics, Materials and Biomedical Engineering, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology Smoluchowskiego St 25, 50-370, Wroclaw, Poland e IFN-CNR, P.zza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133, Milan, Italy f IFAC-CNR, MiPLab, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy g Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Okolna 2, 50-422, Wroclaw, Poland

Photonic glass-ceramics are two-phase materials constituted by nanometer sized crystals, passive or activated by luminescent species, embedded in a glass matrix. Among the different techniques used to fabricate transparent glass ceramics the sol-gel route is highly appreciated because it allows to explore different compositions and develop novel functionalities. By engineering glass-ceramics chemistry, nature, or volume fractions of crystalline and amorphous phases, several interesting properties can be achieved and tailored so that the sol-gel technique appears one of the most versatile processes for the fabrication of photonic systems. The aim of the present paper is to give a brief state of the art and some significant examples of systems developed, even in our research network, during the last ten years of activity, in order to highlights the reliability and versatility of sol-gel -derived glass-ceramics for photonics application. With this aim, the main topics discussed here deal with: (i) transparent rare-earth-activated SiO2-SnO2 glass-ceramics; (ii) mechanical properties of glass ceramics coatings.

Optical materials (Amst., Print) 130 , pp. 1–13

Keywords

sol-gel, glass-ceramics, SiO2-SnO2, 1D hybrid microcavity, glass-ceramic planar waveguide

CNR authors

Righini Giancarlo, Tran Lam Thi Ngoc, Szczurek Anna, Carlotto Alice, Ferrari Maurizio, Chiasera Alessandro, Varas Stefano

CNR institutes

IFAC – Istituto di fisica applicata "Nello Carrara", IFN – Istituto di fotonica e nanotecnologie