Elaboration and Luminescence Properties of Laser-Heated Pedestal Growth Sr₃Al₂O₆-Based Fibers

The development of transparent optical fibers represents one of the biggest scientific challenges for a wide variety of modern technologies ranging from communication systems to medical applications. Here, transparent Sr3Al2O6 crystalline fibers have been grown by the laser-heated pedestal growth (LHPG) technique and the effect of using unconventional glass or ceramic seed is discussed. These fibers exhibit a unique micro-and nanostructure made of veins dispersed in a single-oriented Sr3Al2O6 crystalline matrix, which has been thoroughly characterized by using electron backscatter diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The LHPG method also successfully produced optical fibers of 1 at% Er3+-doped Sr3Al2O6. Even when other impurity was detected, the emission spectrum of the fiber presented sharp Er3+ emission bands and long fluorescence lifetime values arising from the high crystalline structure perfection provided by the LHPG method.