Influence of rare-earth impurities on the Ge and Ga local structure in the Ca3Ga2Ge3O12 glass

Abstract The present contribution presents X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) measurements and analysis of the Ge and Ga local structure in glass of Ca 3 Ga 2 Ge 3 O 12 composition, doped with rare-earth metals (Ce, Eu, Ho, Er in the amount of 0.7 wt% and Nd in the amount of 1.0 wt%). The Ge and Ga ion neighborhoods in the considered glass samples have been compared with data obtained for undoped glass. The results have shown that introduction of rare-earth ions modifies the local structure around the Ga ions in the glass network, leaving the same occurrence ratio of the GaO 4 and GaO 6 structural units as in undoped Ca 3 Ga 2 Ge 3 O 12 glass. At the same time, the GeO 2 subsystem remains completely unaffected by the presence of rare-earth dopants.