| Abstract |
This work was aimed at understanding the structure of SiO2-MO2 (M = Ti, Zr, Hf) and SiO2-HfO2-MO2 (M = Ti, Zr) materials, used as mixed oxide glass hosts for Er3+ ions in the fabrication of optical planar waveguides by sol-gel processing. This structural study was performed by Waveguide Raman Spectroscopy (WRS), complemented with X-ray diffraction (XRD). The admixture of TiO2 to HfO2, SiO2-HfO2 and HfO2-ZrO2 compositions was found to cause precipitation of nanocrystals of tetragonal HfO2 or ZrO2, or the formation of hafnia-titania mixed crystals, depending on the HfO2/TiO2 molar ratio. |
