title: Investigation of phase separation in Nd3+ doped ternary sodium borosilicate glasses by optical spectroscopy.
abstract: Two glasses doped with 1 mol% Nd2O3 and batch compositions inside the miscibility gap of the ternary Na2O-B2O3-SiO2 system were prepared by rapid quenching of the 1,400 degrees C melts. Phase separation was induced by heat-treatment at 600 degrees C for different exposure times and monitored qualitatively by an observation of Rayleigh scattering. The 4I(9/2-->P(1/2) transition of Nd3+ around 23300 cm(-1) recorded for the quenched samples without heat-treatment was used to demonstrate that submicroscopic phase separation in the doped glasses occurs instantaneously upon quenching. The effect of the Nd3+ concentration on this submicroscopic phase separation was investigated.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie, Graz University of Technology, Austria.
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Bartl
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gatterer
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Fritzer
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arafa
mesh_terms: D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D005898:Glass; D006358:Hot Temperature; D007477:Ions; D008956:Models, Chemical; D009354:Neodymium / Q000737:chemistry*; D017640:Silicates / Q000737:chemistry*; D012964:Sodium / Q000737:chemistry*; D013053:Spectrophotometry / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D007477:Ions; D017640:Silicates; D009354:Neodymium; D012964:Sodium