Glass-ceramics for photonic devices

In the past decades, glass-ceramics embedded with nanocrystals have been proved to be one kind of the most promising photonic materials for applications in optical amplifiers, tunable solid-state lasers, luminescent solar concentrators and up-conversion luminescence devices, etc. Transition metal ions and rare-earth ions singly or co-doped glass-ceramics with excellent optical properties have been developed in laboratories, and some have achieved industrialization. In this review, we highlight our recent research achievements on the design and control of the optical properties of transition metal ions and rare-earth ions doped glass-ceramics etc. The important properties such as multicolor luminescence, broadband near-infrared emission and optical amplification are discussed. These studies are not only helpful for understanding the optical properties of active luminescent centers doped glass-ceramics, but also valuable for the fabrication of optical devices. (C) 2012 The Ceramic Society of Japan. All rights reserved.