Enhanced photorefractivity and rare-earth photoluminescence in SnO₂ nanocrystals-based photonic glass-ceramics

This work presents state of the art rare-earth activated SnO2 nanocrystals - based transparent glass-ceramics. With combined enhancements in both photorefractivity and rare-earth photoluminescence, the glass-ceramic has unique benefits as a lasing material. It exhibits high photorefractivity with UV induced refractive index modifications in the order of 10-3. Exploiting its high photorefractivity, optical gratings are fabricated on the glass-ceramic under an energy-efficient direct UV writing process. Furthermore, SnO2 semiconductor nanocrystals are also employed as efficient rare-earth sensitizers enhancing drastically the rare-earth photoluminescence.