MAGPHOGLASS
New doped boro-phosphate vitreous materials, as nano-powders and nano-structured thin films, with high optical and magnetic properties, for photonics.2014-2016
Coordinator
National Institute for Laser, Plasma and Radiation Physics INFLPR Romania
Partners
Sitex 45 Romania
New University of Lisbon. Faculty of Science and Technology CENIMAT-I3N Portugal
Summary
The project proposes as a main research direction, the achievement of a new class of vitreous advanced nano-functional layers and multilayers, with complex magnetic and optical properties, by non-conventional methods. The new chemical and physical methods comparatively to the classical melting of glass have decisive advantages as: rigorous stoichiometric control, high purity of raw materials and of final nano-materials, fine adjusting of the composition in solution and after heat treatment, gain of new well-defined properties controlled by the process parameters, decreasing by hundred degrees of the thermal treatment temperatures, lack of the noxes releasing and high work security.
This proposed project makes an original connection between two domains of materials with special emphasis, boro-phosphate new nano-structured glasses and laser physics regarding functional thin films and nanostructured materials. For the first time we develop the solid film deposition for this new class of materials using laser and magnetic fields. These new nano-materials will be processed with pulse laser (high brightness and very short pulse laser) of 15 TW and the pulse duration of 20-25 fs, which have been recently acquired in INFLPR.
The present researches will focus on how boro-phosphate glasses, as well as specific composition of doped boro-phosphate glass will amplify and improve the properties of special structures induced by using focused femtosecond laser pulses. The project will study the fundamental relationships between the initial composition of boro-phosphate glasses and the structural changes associated with refractive index modification that could be resulting from fs-laser irradiation focusing the results on new prototypes of Faraday rotators and ultra-fast opto-magnetic switching devices design and manufacturing.
Objectives
* The design and development of vitreous BPG nano-materials by the sol-gel method, coprecipitation and coacervate techniques
* Nano-structured powders and thin layers obtained by RFMS deposition, from BPG, at lower temperatures
* High field (G-TW) and very short pulse (fs) laser irradiation on nano-structured BPG coatings for the preparation of meta-materials
* Complex vitreous materials with negative refractive index in bulk
* Design and development of nano-structured thin films using RFMS and PLD/Ag-thin films on nano-structured BPG surface with negative refractive index
* Modeling of nano-structure in nano-structured BPG
* Structural and morphological characterization of the obtained materials and correlation with desired properties
* Design and manufacturing of new Faraday rotator/ ultrafast opto-magnetic switch prototype using these materials with functional surfaces.
