Preparation of Ce(SO_4)_2-doped Phosphosilicate Gels by Mechanical Milling

Ce（SO4） 2-doped phosphosilicate gel was prepared by mechanical milling.Complex impedance analysis proved that the 15 h-ball-milled sample showed a maximum conductivity of 2.97 S/m at 130 °C,which is about 40% higher than that of the sol-gel-prepared sample with the same compositions.NMR results proved that the ball-milled samples contained more Q1 structural units helpful to an increase in both proton conduction and chemical durability.

Formation of six-coordinated silicon in calcium phosphosilicate xerogels assisted by polyols at low temperature and pressure

Silicon is usually found to be four-coordinated when neighbored with oxygen. Six-coordinated silicon is only seen in samples at very specific composition or made at high temperature/pressure. In this study, we managed to synthesize calcium phosphosilicate xerogels containing six-coordinated silicon with the help of polyols by sol-gel method, without the need of treatment at high temperature or high pressure. Both phosphorus precursors and polyols were found to be essential for the formation of six-coordinated silicon species; in the absence of either species, only normal four-coordinated silicon was observed under otherwise identical conditions. Samples containing six-coordinated silicon sites were found to release silicon species faster than those without six-coordinated silicon sites upon dissolved in water, suggesting that six-coordinated silicon species have higher reactivity toward hydrolysis.

Influence of Reaction Conditions on Sol-Gel Process Producing SiO₂and SiO_2-P₂O₅Gel and Glass

The effect of H2O and the slow thermal annealing on the properties of pure silica (SiO2) and phosphosilicate (SiO2-P2O5) gel-glasses are presented. The monolithic samples have been prepared via sol-gel process using tetraethorthosilicate (TEOS), Si(C2H5O)4 and Triethylphosphate (TEP) (C2H5O)3P(O) as SiO2 and P2O5 precursors. Phosphate incorporates into the silicate network by substituting Si atoms and consequently, we observed changes in structural and spectroscopic properties for these systems. The structures of prepared samples were examined by observed weight loss, XRD and FTIR. It has been found that in the structure of pure silica and phosphosilicate glasses there are formed domains characterized by certain degree of ordering of the units present in their composition, while the structure of pure silica is still amorphous of these glasses. The changing character of domains structure may be the reason of different chemical activities of phosphosilicate glass.

High power tunable Raman fiber laser at 1.2μm waveband

Development of a high power fiber laser at special waveband,which is difficult to achieve by conventional rare-earth-doped fibers,is a significant challenge.One of the most common methods for achieving lasing at special wavelength is Raman conversion.Phosphorus-doped fiber(PDF),due to the phosphorus-related large frequency shift Raman peak at 40 THz,is a great choice for large frequency shift Raman conversion.Here,by adopting 150 m large mode area triple-clad PDF as Raman gain medium,and a novel wavelength-selective feedback mechanism to suppress the silica-related Raman emission,we build a high power cladding-pumped Raman fiber laser at 1.2μm waveband.A Raman signal with power up to 735.8 W at 1252.7 nm is obtained.To the best of our knowledge,this is the highest output power ever reported for fiber lasers at 1.2μm waveband.Moreover,by tuning the wavelength of the pump source,a tunable Raman output of more than 450 W over a wavelength range of 1240.6–1252.7 nm is demonstrated.This work proves PDF’s advantage in high power large frequency shift Raman conversion with a cladding pump scheme,thus providing a good solution for a high power laser source at special waveband.