Novel amorphous materials for photonics applications have been the main focus over the last decades because of the large spectrum of applications, which range from optical communication, lasers, photonic components, energy harvesting to medicine. Recently, the attention has shifted to the glass-ceramics (GCs) realm. These materials offer the advantages of glass production combined with the enhanced properties from the embedded crystals, solving several drawbacks of conventional ceramics, especially porosity.
Enhanced non-linear optical effects have been demonstrated in alkali niobium-germanate, silicate and phosphate glasses and glass-ceramics. However, the crystallization behaviour depends strongly on the bulk compositions. Thus, understanding the pristine glass's physico-chemical properties is necessary to develop new materials of greater importance in photonic applications, especially for energy harvesting. Nevertheless, systematic studies on niobate-bearing glasses and glass-ceramics are surprisingly scarce.
This contribution aims to provide an overview of glass-ceramic materials (amorphous and partially crystallized), which exhibit non-linear optical properties for use in electro-optical devices. The incorporation of alkali niobates in rare-earth–activated aluminosilicate glasses will be used as a model to conceptualize how glasses and their crystallization can be designed to enhance or create new properties.
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