Rare earth doped glass–ceramics containing NaLaF4 nanocrystals

Abstract Oxyfluoride glasses 16Na 2 O–9NaF–5LaF 3 –7Al 2 O 3 –63SiO 2 (mol%) activated with 3% terbium, dysprosium, praseodymium and neodymium fluorides have been prepared and studied by differential thermal analysis, cathodoluminescence, X-ray induced luminescence, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. We found out that the presence of crystalline phase enhances the X-ray induced luminescence intensity. X-ray induced luminescence is the most intense for the sample activated with terbium and treated at 700 °C, whereas the praseodymium and neodymium activated samples have the fastest decay times.