Glass Technology Services

This work investigates the fluorescence properties of Ce³⁺-doped silica fiber and borosilicate glass when excited with a 405nm source. The Ce-doped glass was fabricated via a melt-quench process, while the fiber was produced using MCVD with solution doping. Both media exhibit visible fluorescence, with fiber emission peaking in the green region, and glass showing dual peaks in the blue and broader visible range. These results highlight the potential of Ce³⁺-doped materials as compact, efficient broadband light sources. Applications include biomedical imaging techniques such as Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and other visible photonic systems.

Heat accounts for more than half the world’s energy use. The largest user of heat is industry, and the pressure to decarbonize is high. Tendencies to “electrify everything” are seen everywhere, but electric energy is expensive for medium and high-temperature heat generation compared to burning natural gas. Moreover, electric grids are on average still characterized by significant greenhouse gas emissions per kilowatt-hour. But how about PV behind-the-meter, being cost-efficient and well-established in generating electricity? Is PV also the solution for the provision of industrial process heat? To answer this, we investigate the specific embodied carbon for heat production, comparing a PV system with GlassPoint’s enclosed trough concentrated solar thermal system (CST). We exemplarily analyze the case of an industrial process heat consumer in a sunny region to show the difference in embodied carbon, land use, and also give some cost indications. Our results show that this is not the case: Compared to enclosed parabolic trough collectors, PV is characterized by significantly higher embodied carbon values and needs about three times the land and corresponding structures to generate a given amount of heat.

Abstract The high-finesse optical reference cavity stands as an essential scientific tool in the domain of fundamental research. In response to China's historical reliance on imported high-finesse optical reference cavities, we have successfully developed a cavity with ULE materials and processing entirely conducted by China. By employing the method of measuring the cavity linewidth, our experiments have yielded a finesse of approximately 480,000. We have adopted a relatively simple effective approach to test the optical reference cavity, which involves measuring its resonant points using an ultra-stable laser. Remarkably, the expansion coefficient of the Chinese ULE optical reference cavity has been measured to be in the order of 10-9/K within the temperature range of 27°C to 40°C, with the zero expansion point occurring at around 34°C. These results are a testament to China's capability to independently develop high-finesse optical reference cavities, marking a significant advancement in the field of precision optics.

Ultrashort pulsed laser welding of dissimilar materials has become an attractive alternative technique to commonly used adhesive bonding for joining optics to metal mounts / assemblies in the manufacturing of optical and laser systems. The laser welding process relies on very high peak intensities from an ultrashort (ps/fs) pulsed laser beam which is tightly focused through a transmissive optical component, providing a focal spot in the vicinity of the optic-metal interface. Nonlinear multi photon absorption in the optic and linear absorption in the metal results in a highly confined plasma, surrounded by a localised melt zone that rapidly cools to form a bond. For successful welding, the laser pulse repetition rate must be sufficiently high to provide thermal accumulation, to ensure a localised melt volume (the heat-affected zone, HAZ) surrounding the small plasma. The size of this HAZ is dependent on the laser processing parameters and material combinations used during the process and is typically on the ~100μm scale. As the laser spot translates across the material, this highly localised melt/plasma zone rapidly solidifies behind the beam and forms a strong bond (micro weld) between the two surfaces. <br/> <br/> We present our recent results from the ultrashort pulsed laser welding of Er,Yb:Phosphate laser glass and Nd:YAG laser crystals to copper for a combination of mechanical mounting and thermal management (heatsinking) applications in laser systems. Er,Yb:Phosphate glass is a well-known and commonly used active medium for lasers emitting in the ‘eye-safe’ spectral range from 1.5-1.6μm. Nd:YAG is the most popular lasing media for solid state lasers typically emitting light in the 1.064μm spectral range. We investigate the influence of laser processing parameters such as pulse duration and repetition rate on the resultant welds. Analysis of welded parts includes shear strength and accelerated lifetime tests.

Relevance. As part of ensuring sanitary and epidemiological well­-being, in the territory of natural plague foci of the Russian Federation, according to epidemiological indications, the population is vaccinated against this infection. The lack of a unified scheme for evaluating the effectiveness of vaccination dictates the need to develop universal express methods that allow screening studies of anti­-plague immunity, including in the field.Aims. To evaluate the effectiveness of the express method for the direct detection of antibodies to Yersinia pestis in biological material using microstructural glass waveguides with a hollow core (MGW HC) as immunosensors in studying the dynamics of seroconversion in people vaccinated with the plague live people.Materials and methods. In the study, blood serum samples were taken from 30 individuals vaccinated according to epidemic indications with the live plague vaccine (PLV) and 30 volunteers who were not vaccinated and did not have a history of contact with the plague agent.Results. An assessment was made of the possibility of using the method of direct detection of antibodies using MGW HC at different time intervals according to the receipt of blood sera in the framework of monitoring vaccinated individuals from among the inhabitants of the Caspian sandy natural plague focus. The presence of specific antibodies to the F1 protein in the blood serum of vaccinated volunteers was revealed both with the help of ELISA and with the use of MGW HC. The speed of the method of direct detection of antibodies (maximum 2 minutes per test), the absence of the need to use species­specific secondary antibodies, enzymes and substrates and additional costs for laborious sample preparation were noted.Conclusions. The method of direct detection of antibodies using glass microstructural waveguides is promising for introduction into the list of express methods for assessing the immunological effectiveness of anti­plague vaccination.

Glass materials are known for various desirable properties such as transparency, thermal durability, and chemical resistance, making them ideal materials for different applications. In recent decades, demonstrations of glass processing by additive manufacturing have been presented in research. Exploitation of the design freedom offered by additive manufacturing presents new opportunities for fabricating complex glass pieces, without the need for tooling, in a one-step process. There are many challenges that have been identified that must be overcome to allow effective glass processing by laser additive manufacturing techniques. This paper reviews some of the recent research outcomes in the field of glass additive manufacturing, with a focus on Laser Powder Bed Fusion and Directed Energy deposition.

The energy intensive and CO 2 -generating nature of commercial mineral wool and glass production necessitates advances and changes in materials and processes. The derivation of raw materials from waste products arising from biomass energy generation offers the possibility of a two-fold environmental benefit: partial replacement of carbonate raw minerals in production, leading to lower CO 2 release during melting; and the utilisation and valorisation of byproducts which may otherwise be sent to landfill. Glass samples with a basaltic mineral wool composition were produced with additions to the raw materials of 0, 1, 5 and 10 wt% of a fly ash and a bottom ash arising from biomass combustion. The resulting glasses were analysed by x-ray fluorescence (XRF), x-ray diffraction (XRD), dilatometry, 57 Fe Mössbauer and Raman spectroscopies, and their densities, molar volumes and viscosity–temperature profiles were calculated and compared against benchmark glass samples. All biomass ash-containing glasses were closely similar in both composition and properties to the benchmark glass, with up to 10 wt% ash additions to the raw materials. In addition, the use of the biomass fly ash led to a reduction in batch CO 2 content estimated to be 1 · 5 kg CO 2 per tonne of batch for each 1 wt% addition. These initial results provide evidence supporting the further development of these ash materials as potential value-added raw materials for mineral wool manufacture.

Changing the electronic structure of materials by pressure and the accompanying changes in optical properties have attracted scientific interest. We have reported that the energy position of the conduction band (CB) bottom and the crystal field splitting of the Ce3+:5d excited level in Y3Al5-xGaxO12:Ce3+ are changed by applying pressure, which results in the red shifting of the Ce3+:5d → 4f luminescence and the increase of the quenching temperature. We also reported dramatic improvement of the persistent luminescence performance by either Cr3+ or Yb3+ codoping into the Y3Al5-xGaxO12:Ce3+ phosphors. The different trap depths formed by Cr3+ and Yb3+ affect the initial persistent luminescence intensity and the persistent luminescence duration. In this study, the effect of pressure on the persistent luminescence performance was investigated. For the Y3AlGa4O12:Ce3+-Yb3+ phosphor, the slope of persistent luminescence decay curve becomes more gentle with increasing pressure, while for the Y3AlGa4O12:Ce3+-Cr3+ phosphor the slope becomes steeper. These results indicate that the trap depth of Yb3+ becomes deeper and that of Cr3+ becomes shallower with increasing pressure. Based on the pressure-dependence of the luminescence quenching and the trap depth change estimated from the decay slopes, the relative electronic energies of the CB bottom and the Yb2+ (4f14) or Cr2+ (3d4) levels are discussed. The CB bottom energy is increased relative to the ground 1S0 state of Yb2+ with increasing pressure, which results in deepening of the electron trap depth of the Yb2+ state. The opposite tendency of the Cr3+ codoped sample was described by a decreasing tendency of the energy gap between the CB bottom and the Cr2+:eg level, the relative energy level of which is increased by the increase of the crystal field with increasing pressure in the garnet host material, where the electron-trapping Cr2+ ions take the high spin state (t32ge1g) rather than the low-spin state (t42g).