Synthesis and Investigation of Novel Optical Active SiO₂ Glasses with Entrapped YAG:Ce Synthesized via Sol-Gel Method

We present a crack-free optically active SiO₂ glass-composite material containing YAG:Ce synthesized via a modified sol-gel technique. A glass-composite material consisting of yttrium aluminum garnet doped with Ce³⁺ (YAG:Ce) was entrapped into a SiO₂ xerogel. This composite material was prepared using a sol-gel technique with modified gelation and a drying process to obtain crack-free optically active SiO₂ glass. The concentration of the YAG:Ce was from 0.5 to 2.0 wt%. All synthesized samples were characterized via X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques, confirming their exceptional quality and structural integrity. The luminescence properties of the obtained materials were studied. Overall, the prepared samples' excellent structural and optical quality makes them great candidates for further investigation, or even potential practical application. Furthermore, boron-doped YAG:Ce glass was synthesized for the first time.