Sol-Gel Synthesis of High-Quality Heavy-Metal Fluoride Glasses

Fluoride glasses are excellent laser hosts and are very well suited for a broad spectrum of optical applications. However, current fluoride glass synthesis is expensive. The solgel method is an affordable alternative for producing highperformance, optical-quality heavy-metal fluoride glasses. The method involves forming a hydrous oxide gel of the constituent metal alkoxides and salts, polymerizing the solution to form a gel, fluorinating the gel with anhydrous HF, melting the amorphous material in an oxidizing atmosphere of SF₆, and casting the melt into desired shapes. ZBLA (57ZrF₄·36BaF₂·4LaF₃·3AlF₃, in mol%) and Nd-doped (0.3 mol%) ZBLA glass rods were prepared by this process and their properties were measured. The solgel-based glasses had thermal and optical properties similar to those found in the literature for conventionally prepared fluorides.