A High Energy X-Ray Diffraction Investigation Of Sodium Phosphate Glasses Doped With Less Than 5 Mol% Praseodymium Oxides

<p>Rare earth phosphate glasses (REPGs) are excellent materials for high energy (10<super>3</super> - 10<super>6</super> J) / high peak power ( 10<super>12</super> - 10<super>15</super> W) lasers. Previous work of the rare earth doped sodium phosphate glasses with compositions (R₂O₃)_x(Na₂O)_y(P₂O₅)_1-x-y where R= Nd, Eu and Dy, 0.04 < x < 0.13 showed that the intensity of the emission spectra increases with decreasing R₂O₃ content. In this study, praseodymium doped sodium phosphate glasses with even lower praseodymium oxide concentrations, (Pr₂O₃)_x(Na₂O)_yP₂O₅)_1-x-y , where 0.005 < x < 0.05 were processed and characterized focusing on the region where the lasing efficiency is possibly going to peak. Emission spectra for the glass samples were measured to study how the florescence efficiency change with Pr<super>3+</super> concentration. High Energy X-ray diffraction technique was used to study the atomic-scale structure of the rare-earth doped sodium phosphate glass samples. Structural features such as inter-atomic distances, coordination numbers and their dependence on the concentration of the rare earth oxides were gained from analyzing pair distribution functions extracted from diffraction data.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Physics & Astrophysics

Year

2012

Author dc:creator

• Zhang, Kailing

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kanishka Marasinghe

• HEXRD, REPG

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.und.edu/theses/1389

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.und.edu:theses-2390