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Microfluorescence Analysis of Nanostructuring Inhomogeneity in Optical Fibers with Embedded Gallium Oxide Nanocrystals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2012

Valery M. Mashinsky ,
Nikita M. Karatun ,
Vladimir A. Bogatyrev ,
Vladimir N. Sigaev ,
Nikita V. Golubev ,
Elena S. Ignat'eva ,
Roberto Lorenzi ,
Maria Cristina Mozzati ,
Alberto Paleari  and
Evgeny M. Dianov
Valery M. Mashinsky
Affiliation:
Fiber Optics Research Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 38 Vavilov Str., 119333 Moscow, Russia
Nikita M. Karatun
Affiliation:
Fiber Optics Research Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 38 Vavilov Str., 119333 Moscow, Russia
Vladimir A. Bogatyrev
Affiliation:
Fiber Optics Research Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 38 Vavilov Str., 119333 Moscow, Russia
Vladimir N. Sigaev
Affiliation:
International Laboratory of Glass-based Functional Materials, Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia, Miusskaya Square 9, 125190, Moscow, Russia
Nikita V. Golubev
Affiliation:
International Laboratory of Glass-based Functional Materials, Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia, Miusskaya Square 9, 125190, Moscow, Russia
Elena S. Ignat'eva
Affiliation:
International Laboratory of Glass-based Functional Materials, Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia, Miusskaya Square 9, 125190, Moscow, Russia
Roberto Lorenzi
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via R. Cozzi 53, 20125 Milano, Italy
Maria Cristina Mozzati
Affiliation:
Department of Physics “Alessandro Volta”, University of Pavia, via Bassi 6, 27100 Pavia, Italy
Alberto Paleari*
Affiliation:
International Laboratory of Glass-based Functional Materials, Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia, Miusskaya Square 9, 125190, Moscow, Russia Department of Materials Science, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via R. Cozzi 53, 20125 Milano, Italy
Evgeny M. Dianov
Affiliation:
Fiber Optics Research Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 38 Vavilov Str., 119333 Moscow, Russia
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: alberto.paleari@mater.unimib.it
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Abstract

A spectroscopic protocol is proposed to implement confocal microfluorescence imaging to the analysis of microinhomogeneity in the nanocrystallization of the core of fibers belonging to a new kind of broadband fiber amplifier based on glass with embedded nanocrystals. Nanocrystallization, crucial for achieving an adequate light emission efficiency of transition metal ions in these materials, has to be as homogeneous as possible in the fiber to assure optical amplification. This requirement calls for a sensitive method for monitoring nanostructuring in oxide glasses. Here we show that mapping microfluorescence excited at 633 nm by a He-Ne laser may give a useful tool in this regard, thanks to quasi-resonant excitation of coordination defects typical of germanosilicate materials, such as nonbridging oxygens and charged Ge-O-Ge sites, whose fluorescence are shown to undergo spectral modifications when nanocrystals form into the glass. The method has been positively checked on prototypes of optical fibers—preventively characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy—fabricated from preforms of Ni-doped Li2O-Na2O-Sb2O3-Ga2O3-GeO2-SiO2 glass in silica cladding and subjected to heat treatment to activate gallium oxide nanocrystal growth. The method indeed enables not only the mapping of the crystallization degree but also the identification of drawing-induced defects in the fiber cladding.

Keywords

nanostructuresglass ceramicsoptical fibersmicrofluorescencemicroinhomogeneityelectron microscopy
Type
Materials Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , April 2012 , pp. 259 - 265
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2012

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