Perfluoride glass ceramic transmitting from UV to far-IR tailored by one step

This Letter highlights a cost-effective, simple, and rapid one-step process leading to the (Sr_0.84Lu_0.16) F_2.16 glass ceramic in a completely new perfluoride system. The mechanism was demonstrated clearly. This material shows high transparency in the UV (0.35 μm) range up to far-IR (10.8 μm). In addition, low phonon energy, as well as good mechanical properties, chemical durability, spectral performance, and long lifetime (7.2 ms) of Er³⁺:2.7  μm are also possessed by this material. This Letter effectively breaks through the performance limitation of a glass matrix on fluoride crystallites in glass ceramics for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. Meanwhile, it also provides a promising optical material for windows and lasers by a simple and cheap method.