Crystal growth and optical properties of CdS-doped lead silicate glass

The crystal growth and optical properties of CdS microcrystallite-doped lead silicate glass is investigated in this paper. The existence of CdS nanocrystals was confirmed via X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results reveal that a two-stage heat-treat procedure can produce a better size distribution of CdS nanocrystals than a one-stage heat-treat procedure in glasses. The second harmonic generation (SHG) from the base glass and CdS microcrystallite doped glasses was observed, and the effects of the heat treatments and the thermal poling temperature on the crystallization of CdS and second-order harmonic (SH) intensity were discussed, respectively. It is indicated that samples doped with CdS microcrystallite showed larger SH intensity than that of the base glass. Use of a higher thermal poling temperature than the glass transformation temperature does not result in a good SH intensity in glasses.