Physical and Optical Properties of CeF3 Doped with Aluminium Fluorophosphate Glasses

Glass doped with cerium is an attractive material for a variety of applications. The aluminium fluorophosphate glasses were made by the conventional melt-quenching technique. The glass samples were characterized by density, refractive index, FTIR and photoluminescence spectra. The density was shown to increase, but refractive and molar volume were shown to decrease. The FTIR spectra of these glasses showed mainly [PO3] and [PO4] structural units. Transparency of the glass samples is demonstrated by a transmission intensity in the 70-80% range. Regarding the optical properties, under 307 nm excitation, the emission peak around 348 nm of the CeF3-doped aluminium fluorophosphate glasses was confirmed. The emission would be due to the 5d→4f transitions of Ce3+ ions.