Synthesis and characterization of new active, photosensitive and ion-exchangeable glasses

The integration on the same glass substrate of laser sources and passive devices made by low cost techniques such as the ion exchange has already been demonstrated. On the other hand, we have already reported the synthesis of a passive, photosensitive and ion-exchangeable glass, called SGBN. In this paper we present the synthesis of the first (to our knowledge) active, photosensitive and ion-exchangeable glass family, obtained by proper rare-earth ion doping of the SGBN glass. Examples of the typical results of the physical and optical characterization of these glasses (characteristic temperatures, refractive index variation, absorption and emission spectra, cross sections) are given.