FABRICATION OF TRANSPARENT TELLURITE GLASSES CONTAINING POTASSIUM NIOBATE CRYSTALS BY AN INCORPORATION METHOD

To fabricate transparent oxide glasses containing ferroelectric KNBO3 crystals, a new method in which KNbO3 particles are directly incorpora ted into TeO2-K2O-Nb2O5 glasses has been developed. Transparent TeO2-b ased glasses containing KNbO3 crystals with a diameter of approximatel y 10 mum have been first successfully fabricated by adjusting temperat ure and time for incorporation. A small difference in the refractive i ndexes, n, between TeO2-based matrix glasses (n = 2.0) and incorporate d KNbO3 crystals (n = 2.21) is a significant reason for the transparen cy. This new method is applicable for the fabrication of new transpare nt glasses containing other functional materials with high refractive indexes.