Luminous glass

Details Luminous glass Luminous glass

1999-02-08

2001-10-09

Sample, David R (Department: 1755)

Compositions: ceramic

Ceramic compositions

Glass compositions, compositions containing glass other than...

C501S063000, C501S069000, C501S070000, C252S30140F, C252S30160F

Reexamination Certificate

active

06300264

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to luminous glass containing rare earth ions, wherein the characters of thermal expansion and mechanical strength, of the luminous glass are improved. In particular, the invention relates to the luminous glass which can be suitably applied to an oscillation medium for laser oscillation, an excitation light filter or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
For materials which are applied as the luminous materials in earlier technology, a glass material, a single crystal material, and a ceramic material have been known.
For the glass material, for example, various laser glasses such as quartz laser glass, phosphate system laser glass or the like, which contain rare earth ions and are applied to oscillation medium for laser oscillation have been known.
The luminous glass material is not only applied to the laser glass. For example, Japanese Patent Application No. 9-188543 laid open discloses blue emission glass which can be applied to; optical detector which applied to confirmation of radiation beam position such as ultraviolet beam, X-ray or the like, mode pattern recognition, spatial distribution state; an element for optical power meter; an image displaying sensor; and the like.
However, there are problems of the thermal resistance in the glass material in earlier technology. That is, because the glass material has a high coefficient of thermal expansion, when the glass material is subjected to irradiation by an excitation light with high intensity, the glass material breaks under thermal expansion thereof. When the glass material is used under such environmental circumstances, temperature of which is largely or rapidly changed, the glass material breaks under thermal fatigue thereof. Accordingly, there is a problem that the condition and circumstances, for using the glass material are limited.
Therefore, for example, it is required for the luminous glass material which is applied to the oscillation medium for laser oscillation or the wavelength conversion filter for excitation light of laser to prevent occurring large or rapid change of temperature, or to change the glass material to another one before the glass material thermally fatigues.
On the other hand, there are problems for the luminous single crystal material that it is difficult to uniformly dope the optically active elements to the single crystal material and to produce a product of the single crystal material having practically large size. It is suitable for the glass material to produce a product having large size compared with the single crystal material.
There is a problem that the ceramic material is liable to occur a light scattering caused by grain boundaries and pores, of the ceramic material, which is character there of. Therefore, it is difficult to apply the ceramic material to such an application requiring transparent luminous material.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been developed in view of the problems.
An object of the present invention is to provide a luminous glass which can solve the problems of luminous materials in earlier technology, that is, the problems of thermal properties, for example, the break under the locally thermal expansion thereof or a heat shock, or the like, caused by the high coefficient of thermal expansion.
Another object of the invention is to provide a luminous glass which can solve the problems in the non-uniform distribution of the optically active element in the single crystal material in earlier technology and in the occurrence of the light scattering caused by the grain boundaries and the pores, of the ceramic material in the earlier technology.
Further object of the invention is to provide a luminous glass which can be easily produced.
Still further object of the invention is to provide a method for producing luminous glass having the superior thermal properties above-described.
The inventors have made various efforts to solve the problems above-described. As a result, it is developed that the glass having a rare earth element has superior thermal character and optical homogeneity and can be easily produced. Then, the inventors have achieved the invention.
In order to accomplish the above objects, in accordance with one aspect of the invention, a luminous glass having a thermal shock resistance &Dgr;t° C. of not less than 150° C., wherein the thermal shock resistance &Dgr;t is obtained by following equation, &Dgr;t=[flexural strength]×(1−[Poisson's ratio])/([coefficient of thermal expansion]×[Young's modulus]). In the luminous glass, PbO, B
2
O
3
, BeO, Na
2
O, and K
2
O can not be essentially contained.
According to the luminous glass of the invention, because the thermal shock resistance &Dgr;t° C. thereof is not less than 150° C., even though the glass is subjected to the irradiation by the high intense excitation light, it is possible to resist the locally thermal expansion thereof caused by heat generation, the heat shock, the thermal fatigue with the passage of time under the intermittent irradiation by excitation light, or the like. Therefore, it is possible to apply the luminous glass of the invention to various optical products without limitation of the condition and circumstances, for using the luminous glass, for example, the luminous glass can be suitably applied to oscillation medium for laser oscillation and the wavelength conversion filter for excitation light.
The luminous glass can comprise the following components:
Wt. %
SiO
2
46-66
Al
2
O
3
18-30
MgO
 0-12
CaO
 0-16
ZnO
 0-21
P
2
O
5
 0-10
Li
2
O
0-8
BaO
0-9
As
2
O
3
+ Sb
2
O
3
0-2
wherein a ratio of Al
2
O
3
to SiO
2
can be 0.32-0.56, a total amount of MgO, CaO, and ZnO can be 2-34 wt. %, a total amount of P
2
O
5
, Li
2
O, and BaO can be 0-21 wt. %, and one or more rare earth elements can be added to the glass on an oxide basis of 0.1-30 wt. % to an total amount of the components.
The luminous glass can comprise the following components:
Wt. %
SiO
2
46-66
Al
2
O
3
18-30
MgO
 1-12
CaO
 0-12
ZnO
 0-18
P
2
O
5
 0-10
Li
2
O
0-7
BaO
1-9
As
2
O
3
+ Sb
2
O
3
0-2
wherein a ratio of Al
2
O
3
to SiO
2
can be 0.32-0.56, a total amount of MgO, CaO, and ZnO can be 2-28 wt. %, a total amount of P
2
O
5
, Li
2
O, and BaO can be 1-20 wt. %, and one or more rare earth elements can be added to the glass on an oxide basis of 0.1-30 wt. % to an total amount of the components.
The luminous glass can comprise the following components:
Wt. %
SiO
2
46-66
Al
2
O
3
18-30
MgO
 1-10
CaO
0-8
ZnO
 0-16
P
2
O
5
 0-10
Li
2
O
2-6
BaO
1-6
As
2
O
3
+ Sb
2
O
3
0-2
wherein a ratio of Al
2
O
3
to SiO
2
can be 0.32-0.56, a total amount of MgO, CaO, and ZnO is 2-23 wt. %, a total amount of P
2
O
5
, Li
2
O, and BaO can be 3-19 wt. %, and one or more rare earth elements can be added to the glass on an oxide basis of 0.1-30 wt. % to an total amount of the components.
According to the luminous glass of the invention, the luminous glass is close and have superior homogeneity, high mechanical strength, and chemical durability. Further, the luminous glass of the invention has lower coefficient of thermal expansion and larger flexural strength in comparison to the luminous glass in earlier technology. As a result, the luminous glass has high thermal shock resistance. In addition, because it is glass, the luminous glass of the invention has superior formability.
Therefore, it is possible to apply the luminous glass of the invention to extremely various application as luminous material substituted for the glass material, the single crystal material, and the ceramics material.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method for producing a luminous glass having a thermal shock resistance &Dgr;t° C. of not less than 150° C. the method comprises the steps of: mixing raw materials of components of the glass; charging the resulting mixture into a melting apparatus; melting the mixtur

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