Phosphorus oxynitride glass for laser applications: Final report, 1 February 1987-30 June 1987

Technical Report · Tue Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1987

OSTI ID:5678259

Day, D E

This report describes an investigation undertaken to improve the chemical durability of Nd-doped phosphate laser glasses by nitridation in dry NH/sub 3/. The one extra bond provided by the nitrogen ion increases the cross-link density in the glass network, thereby imparting more stability. The general plan was to remelt glass cullet in anhydrous ammonia vapor at predetermined temperatures for different times for the purpose of producing an oxynitride glass. The chemical durability along with other properties, such as the refractive index, thermal expansion coefficient, and dilatometric softening temperature, were measured and compared for the unnitrided and oxynitride glasses. Unlike many phosphate glasses, the chemical durability of the LLNL laser glasses in the ambient atmosphere is reasonably high and is comparable to commercial soda-lime-silica glass. Only a small amount (<0.2 wt %) of nitrogen could be incorporated into these glasses by remelting in dry ammonia. This amount is insignificant compared to the 10 to 15 wt % nitrogen that has been incorporated into a sodium-metaphosphate glass under identical nitriding conditions. No significant change in refractive index, thermal expansion coefficient, dilatometric softening temperature, and chemical durability was detected for the nitrided and unnitrided glasses. The presence of R/sub 2/O/sub 3/ oxides (R = Al, La, Nd) is believed to be the reason for the very low nitrogen content in these oxynitride phosphate laser glasses. Since the strength of R-O bond is higher than that of the R-N bond, the replacement of an oxygen attached to Al, La, or Nd by nitrogen in the glass network seems unlikely. This concept has been confirmed by nitriding a 40N/sub 2/O-60P/sub 2/O/sub 5/, mol %, glass where the nitrogen content was found to rapidly decrease with increasing Nd/sub 2/O/sub 3/ content in the glass. 11 refs., 3 figs., 8 tabs.

• Research Organization: Missouri Univ., Rolla (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 5678259
• Report Number(s): UCRL-15997; ON: DE88005413
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360603 -- Materials-- Properties
42 ENGINEERING
420300* -- Engineering-- Lasers-- (-1989)
AMMONIA
CHEMICAL PREPARATION
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DISSOLUTION
DOCUMENT TYPES
EXPANSION
GLASS
HYDRIDES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
LASER MATERIALS
LASERS
MATERIALS
NEODYMIUM LASERS
NITRIDATION
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN HYDRIDES
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHOSPHATE GLASS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PROGRESS REPORT
REFRACTIVITY
SOLID STATE LASERS
STABILITY
SYNTHESIS
THERMAL EXPANSION