Synthesis and Properties of Er-Doped KPO3-Ca(PO3)2 Glass and Glass-Ceramic

In the present work, we studied Er-doped KPO
₃
-Ca(PO
₃
)
₂
metaphosphate glass and its devitrification behavior. It is shown that two concurrent crystallization processes (surface and bulk crystallization) are observed in this glass with the precipitation of two different phases of KCa(PO
₃
)
₃
: the hexagonal phase is mostly formed at the surface, whereas the orthorhombic isomorph is found in the bulk. The possibility of synthetizing a transparent glass-ceramic is demonstrated. From the changes in the spectroscopic properties of the obtained glass-ceramic materials, Er
³⁺
ions are suspected to enter into the lattice of the KCa(PO
₃
)
₃
crystal.