Effect of Nd3+ on the Properties of Lithium Niobium Borate Crystal and Glass

1 mol% of neodymium-doped lithium niobium borate (NdLNB) glass and crystal have been produced by using melt-quenching and Czochralski technique, respectively. The synthesis, growth and characterizations of the samples were reported. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Differential thermal analyzer (DTA), Ultraviolet-Visible-Near-Infrared (UV-Vis-NIR) and Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopic characterizations were made to examine the influence of Nd3+ on the physical, structural and optical properties of the samples. Various physical properties such as density, molar volume, ion concentration, polaron radius, inter-nuclear distance and field strength were calculated. The as-quenched glass was amorphous whereas crystal was crystalline as established via XRD studies. UV-Vis-NIR spectra exhibited eight prominent bands centered at 353, 475, 524, 583, 681, 745, 803, 875 nm corresponding to the transitions from the ground state to 4D3/2, 2G9/2, 4G7/2, 4G5/2, 4F9/2, 4F7/2, 4F5/2, 4F3/2 excited states, respectively. Moreover, the emission spectra at 355 nm excitation displayed several peaks that contributed to the transition of (4F3/2→4I9/2) and (4F3/2→4I11/2), respectively. Fluorescence lifetime was recorded at 53.69 µs for the glass whereas the crystal was recorded at 43.62 µs. It was found that Nd3+ ions affected the physical, structural and optical properties of the glass and crystal samples.