Luminescence of silver clusters in ion-exchanged cerium-doped photo-thermo-refractive glasses

Photo-thermo-refractive glasses with cerium oxide as one of dopants inherent in their compositions are now attractive materials for developing various elements and devices of photonics. The effect of variations in the CeO2 content of the photo-thermo-refractive matrix-based glasses on the spectral and luminescent properties of silver clusters formed in the glasses with the low-temperature ion exchange method is investigated for the first time. Silver clusters in the glasses are shown to manifest themselves in the broadband luminescence in the visible and NIR. The absolute quantum yield of silver cluster luminescence in cerium-doped photo-thermo-refractive matrix-based glasses reaches 32% (λex=360 nm), which can be used effectively for various applications.