Sol-gel preparation of rare-earth silicate glasses

Rare-earth silicate glasses have been obtained by a sol-gel method starting with the rare earth carbonates of Pr, Dy and Er and TEOS (tetraethoxysilane). Expressed in the form xLn 2O 3(1 − x)SiO 2, the glasses have compositions in the range x = 0.009 to 0.052, which corresponds to 0.9 to 5.2 mol% or up to 23 wt% rare earth oxide as determined by electron microprobe. The glasses were produced by densification at 800 ° C. Infrared and visible spectra and magnetic susceptibilities are reported.