Influence of Mixed Na(2)O/K(2)O on Chemical Durability and Spectral Properties of P(2)O(5)-Al(2)O(3)-BaO-K(2)O-Na(2)O-Nd(2)O(3) Phosphate Glasses

A series of 56P(2)O(5)-7.5Al(2)O(3)-5.9BaO-(28.56-x)K(2)O-xNa(2)O-1.51Nd(2)O(3) phosphate glasses with different Na/(Na+K) ratios, which were specially designed for high-power laser application, were prepared by a high-temperature melting method. Except for the density, refractive index, glass transition temperature, and DC conductivity, the chemical durability and spectral properties, as emphasized by high-power and high-energy laser material, were further measured and analyzed. Regarding the chemical durability, the dissolution rates of these glasses do not show an evident mixed alkali effect with increasing the Na/(Na+K) ratio, although the effect is obvious for the glass transition temperature and DC conductivity. To better understand the nature of the dissolution mechanism, the ionic release concentrations of every element are determined. Both Na and K undergo ion exchange, but the ion exchange rate of K is much larger than that of Na. In terms of the spectral properties, the J–O parameters, emission cross-section, radiation lifetime, fluorescence lifetime, effective bandwidth, fluorescence branching ratio, and quantum efficiency are determined from absorption and emission spectra. The trend of Ω(2) deviating from linearity indicates that the coordination environment symmetry of Nd(3+) ions and the covalence of Nd-O also present an evident mixed alkali effect. The most important finding is that the emission cross-section and fluorescence lifetime of Nd(3+) ions at 1053 nm were not affected by the change in the Na/K ratio. According to the above experimental results, the optimized value of the Na/K ratio was determined, based on which the 56P(2)O(5)-7.5Al(2)O(3)-5.9BaO-(28.56-x)K(2)O-xNa(2)O-1.51Nd(2)O(3) glass maintains a high emission cross-section with good chemical durability.