Bulk metallic glasses and multi-principal element alloys represent relatively new classes of multi-component engineering materials designed for satisfying multiple functionalities simultaneously. Correlating the microstructure with mechanical behavior (at the microstructural length-scales) in these materials is key to understanding their performance. In this study, the structure evolution and nano-mechanical behavior of these two classes of materials was investigated with the objective of fundamental scientific understanding of their properties. The structure evolution, high temperature nano-mechanical behavior, and creep of two Zr-based alloys was studied: Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10.0Be22 (Vitreloy1) and Zr52.5Ti5Cu17.9Ni14.6All0 (Vitreloy105). Devitrification was found to proceed via the formation of a metastable icosahedral phase with five-fold symmetry. The deformation mechanism changes from inhomogeneous or serrated flow to homogenous flow near 0.9Tg, where Tg is the glass transition temperature. The creep activation energy for Vitreloy1 and Vitreloy105 were 144 kJ/mol and 125 kJ/mol, respectively in the range of room temperature to 0.75Tg. The apparent activation energy increased drastically to 192 kJ/mol for Vitreloy1 and 215 kJ/mol for Vitreloy105 in the range of 0.9Tg to Tg, indicating a change in creep mechanism. Structure evolution in catalytic amorphous alloys, Pt57.5Cu14.7Ni5.3P22.5 and Pd43Cu27Ni10P20, was studied using 3D atom probe tomography and elemental segregation between different phases and the interface characteristics were identified. The structure evolution of three multi-principal element alloys were investigated namely CoCrNi, CoCrFeMnNi, and Al0.1CoCrFeNi. All three alloys formed a single-phase FCC structure in as-cast, cold worked and recrystallized state. No secondary phases precipitated after prolonged heat treatment or mechanical working. The multi-principal element alloys showed less strain gradient plasticity compared to pure metals like Ni during nano-indentation. This was attributed to the highly distorted lattice which resulted in lesser density of geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs). Dislocation nucleation was studied by low load indentation along with the evaluation of activation volume and activation energy. This was done using a statistical approach of analyzing the "pop-in" load marking incipient plasticity. The strain rate sensitivity of nanocrystalline Al0.1CoCrFeNi alloy was determined by in situ compression of nano-pillars in a Pico-indenter. The nanocrystalline alloy demonstrated a yield strength of ~ 2.4 GPa, ten times greater than its coarse grained counterpart. The nanocrystalline alloy exhibited high strain rate sensitivity index of 0.043 and activation volume of 5b3 suggesting grain boundary dislocation nucleation.

The ability to tune the properties over a wide range of values by changing the additives, composition, etc., has made chalcogenide glassy semiconductors, most interesting from both fundamental physics as well as technology point of view. In particular, the occurrence of the two network topological thresholds namely the Rigidity Percolation Threshold (RPT) and the Chemical Threshold (CT) and their influence on various properties of chalcogenide glasses have been of immense interest during the last three decades. The Rigidity Percolation Threshold (also known as the Stiffness Threshold or Mechanical Threshold) corresponds to the composition at which the material transforms from a floppy polymeric glass to a rigid amorphous solid, whereas at Chemical Threshold the sample tends towards an ordered state. Though the rigidity percolation has been considered for long to occur at a critical threshold defined by the constraint’s theory, the recent theoretical and experimental investigations have found the RPT to occur over a range of compositions. In systems exhibiting an extended rigidity percolation, two distinct transitions namely from a floppy to an isostatically rigid phase and from an isostatically rigid to a stressed rigid phase are seen. In the category of chalcogenide glasses, tellurides have been found to exhibit interesting properties including the phenomenon of electrical switching which finds applications in Phase Change Memories (PCM). Studies on various thermal, electrical and photoelectrical properties of glassy tellurides help us in identifying suitable materials for different technological applications. This thesis deals with Differential Scanning Calorimetric (DSC) & Temperature Modulated Alternating Differential Scanning Calorimetric (ADSC) studies, electrical switching investigations, photoconductivity & photothermal measurements on certain metal doped telluride glasses. The composition dependence of properties such as glass transition & crystallization temperatures, switching voltage, thermal diffusivity, photosensitivity, etc., have been analyzed to obtain information about topological thresholds, thermally reversing window, etc. The first chapter of thesis provides an overview of properties of amorphous semiconductors, in particular chalcogenide glasses. The local & defect structure, the electronic band structure & electrical properties, electrical switching behavior, etc., are discussed in detail. The theoretical aspects related to the experiments undertaken in this thesis work have also been described. The instrumentation used for various experiments conducted to measure thermal, electrical, photoelectrical and photothermal properties have been discussed in chapter two. The chapter three deals with the photocurrent measurements on As40Te60-xInx (7.5 ≤ x ≤ 16.5) glasses. In these samples, it has been found that the photocurrent increases with illumination, which is understood on the basis of the large dielectric constant and also due to the presence of a large number of positively charged defect states. Further, the composition dependence of the conductivity activation energy and the photosensitivity exhibit a maximum at x = 12.5 (<r> = 2.65) and a minimum at x = 15.0 (<r> = 2.70) which has been identified to be the Rigidity Percolation Threshold (RPT) and the Chemical Threshold (CT) respectively. The results of electrical switching, DSC and Photothermal Deflection (PTD) studies on As20Te80-xGax (7.5 ≤ x ≤ 18.5) glasses, undertaken to elucidate the network topological thresholds, are described in chapter four. It has been found that all the As20Te80-xGax glasses studied exhibit memory type electrical switching. The switching voltage (VT) of these glasses increases monotonically with x, in the composition range 7.5 ≤ x ≤ 15.0. The increase in VT with gallium addition leads to a local maximum at x = 15.0 and VT decreases with x thereafter, reaching a distinct minimum at x = 17.5. Based on the variation with composition of the electrical switching voltages, the composition x = 15.0 and x = 17.5 have been identified to be the rigidity percolation and chemical thresholds of the As20Te80-xGax glassy system respectively. Further, the DSC studies indicate that As20Te80-xGax glasses exhibit a single glass transition (Tg) and two crystallization reactions (Tc1 & Tc2) upon heating. There is no appreciable change in Tg of As20Te80-xGax glasses with the addition of upto about10 atom% of Ga, whereas a continuous increase is seen in the crystallization temperature (Tc1). It is interesting to note that both Tg and Tc1 exhibit a maximum at x = 15.0 and a minimum at x = 17.5, the compositions identified to be the RPT and CT respectively by the switching experiments. The composition dependence of thermal diffusivity estimated from the PTD signal, indicate the occurrence of an extended stiffness transition in As20Te80-xGax glasses, with the compositions x = 9.0 and x = 15.0 being the onset and the completion of an extended rigidity percolation. A maximum and a minimum are seen in the thermal diffusivity respectively at these compositions. Further, a second maximum is seen in the thermal diffusivity of As20Te80-xGax glasses, the Chemical Threshold (CT) of the glassy system. The fifth chapter of the thesis describes the ADSC, electrical switching and photocurrent measurements on Ge15Te85-xInx (1 ≤ x ≤ 11) glasses. It is found there is not much change in the Tg of Ge15Te85-xInx glasses in the composition range 1 ≤ x ≤ 3. An increase is seen in Tg beyond x = 3, which continues until x = 11. Further, the composition dependence of non-reversing enthalpy shows the presence of a thermally reversing window in the compositions range x = 3 and x = 7. Electrical switching studies indicate that Ge15Te85-xInx glasses exhibit threshold type of switching at input currents below 2 mA. It is observed that switching voltages decrease initially with indium addition, exhibiting a minimum at x = 3, the onset of the extended rigidity percolation as revealed by ADSC. An increase is seen in VT above x = 3, which proceeds till x = 8, with a change in slope (lower to higher) seen around 7 atom% of indium which corresponds to the completion of the stiffness transition. The reversal in trend exhibited in the variation of VT at x = 8, leads to a well defined minimum around x = 9, the chemical threshold of the Ge15Te85-xInx glassy system. Photocurrent measurements indicate that there is no photodegradation in Ge15Te85-xInx glasses with x < 3, whereas samples with x ≥ 3 show photodegradation behavior. The composition dependent variation in the glass transition temperature has been attributed for this behavior. Further, the composition dependence of photo sensitivity has been found to show the signatures of the extended rigidity percolation and the chemical threshold in Ge15Te85-xInx glasses. The last chapter of thesis (chapter six) summarizes the results obtained and also the scope of future work to be undertaken.

Amorphous alloys possess attractive combinations of mechanical properties (high elastic limit, ~2%, high fracture toughness, 20-50 MPa.m1/2, etc.) and exhibit mechanical behavior that is different, in many ways, from that of the crystalline metals and alloys. However, fundamental understanding of the deformation and fracture mechanisms in amorphous alloys, which would allow for design of better metallic glasses, has not been established on a firm footing yet. The objective of this work is to understand the deformation and fracture mechanisms of amorphous materials at various length scales and make connections with the macroscopic properties of glasses. Various experimental techniques were employed to study the macroscopic behavior and atomistic simulations were conducted to understand the mechanisms at the nano level. Towards achieving these objectives, we first study the toughness of a Zr-based bulk metallic glass (BMG), Vitreloy-1, as a function of the free volume, which was varied by recourse to structural relaxation of the BMG through sub-Tg annealing treatment. Both isothermal annealing at 500 K (0.8Tg) for up to 24 h and isochronal annealing for 24 h in the temperature range of 130 K (0.65Tg) to 530 K (0.85Tg) were conducted and the impact toughness, Γ, values were measured. Results show severe embrittlement, with losses of up to 90% in Γ, with annealing. The variation in Γ with annealing time, ta, was found to be similar to that observed in the enthalpy change at the glass transition, ΔH, with ta, indicating that the reduction of free volume due to annealing is the primary mechanism responsible for the loss in Γ with annealing. Having established the connection between sub-atomic length scales (free volume) and macroscopic response (toughness), we investigated further the affects of relaxation on intermediate length scale behavior, namely deformation induced by shear bands, by employing instrumented indentation techniques. While the Vickers nano-indentation response of the as-cast and annealed glasses do not show any significant difference, spherical indentation response shows reduced shear band activity in the annealed BMG. Further, relatively high indentation strain was observed to be necessary for shear band initiation in the annealed glass, implying an increased resistance for the nucleation of shear bands when the BMG is annealed. In the absence of microstructural features that allow for establishment of correlation between properties and the structure, we resort to atomistic modeling to gain further understanding of the deformation mechanisms in amorphous alloys. In particular, we focus on the micromechanisms of strain accommodation including crystallization and void formation during inelastic deformation of glasses. Molecular dynamics simulations on a single component system with Lennard-Jones-like atoms suggest that a softer short range interaction between atoms favors crystallization. Compressive hydrostatic strain in the presence of a shear strain promotes crystallization whereas a tensile hydrostatic strain was found to induce voids. The deformation subsequent to the onset of crystallization includes partial re-amorphization and recrystallization, suggesting important mechanisms of plastic deformation in glasses. Next, a study of deformation induced crystallization is conducted on two component amorphous alloys through atomistic simulations. The resistance of a binary glass to deformation-induced-crystallization (deformation stability) is found to increase with increasing atomic size ratio. A new parameter called “atomic stiffness” (defined by the curvature of the inter-atomic potential at the equilibrium separation distance) is introduced and examined for its role on deformation stability. The deformation stability of binary glasses is found to increase with increasing atomic stiffness. For a given composition, the internal energies of binary crystals and glasses are compared and it is found that the energy of glass remains approximately constant for a wide range of atomic size ratios unlike crystals in which the energy increases with increasing atomic size ratio. This study uncovers the similarities between deformation and thermal stabilities of glasses and suggests new parameters for predicting highly stable glass compositions.

Ce travail de thèse porte sur le développement des nouveaux verres bioactifs de comblement osseux. Ils sont élaborés par fusion dans le système quaternaire : SiO2-CaO-Na2O-P2O5. Deux éléments chimiques (bore et fluor), ont été incorporés au sein du réseau vitreux. L’effet de la quantité des éléments ajoutés dans le verre, sur le comportement physico-chimique, mécanique et physiologique a été mené par plusieurs techniques originales. L’intégration du bore ou du fluor au sein de la matrice vitreuse, influe sur les caractéristiques thermiques des verres synthétisés. Les performances mécaniques en termes de résistance mécanique, module de Young, module de cisaillement, rigidité et dureté ont été développé par l’incorporation du fluor dans la structure vitreuse. L’effet inverse a été manifesté pour les verres à base du bore. Des essais ''in vitro'' ont prouvé que la présence du bore accélère la dissolution de la matrice vitreuse, la cinétique et la cristallisation de la couche d’hydroxyapatite. Tandis que l’ajout du fluor retarde ces phénomènes physiologiques. / This thesis focuses on the development of new bioactive glasses for use as bone filling. They are synthetized by the melting method in the quaternary system CaO-SiO2-Na2O-P2O5. Two chemical elements (boron and fluor), have been incorporated in the glass network. The amount added effect, of elements, in the glass, on the physico-chemical, mechanical and physiological behaviour was led by several original techniques. The boron or fluor integration in the glass matrix, affect the thermal characteristics of the synthesized glasses. The mechanical performance in terms of: mechanical strength, Young's modulus, shear modulus, rigidity and hardness, have been developed by the fluor incorporation into the glass structure. The opposite effect was manifested for boron based glasses. In vitro tests have showed that the boron presence accelerates the vitreous matrix dissolution, the kinetics and the crystallization of the hydroxyapatite layer. While the fluor addition retards these physiological phenomena.

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No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese V.6 (Final) - João Fernando.pdf: 9335731 bytes, checksum: d43ee1c77922e89387dfea2707ce3abd (MD5) Carta Comprovante da versão final da tese.jpg: 41274 bytes, checksum: 68e6feb4fa1360327b440f2f90621de9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-23 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Many glasses have been studied as solid electrolytes in behalf of replacing commercial liquid electrolytes. However, even for the best glass compositions available in the literature, values of conductivity similar to those presented by liquids are far beyond to be achieved. This work intends to show how changes in the structure, by means of composition, can help to increase the conductivity in oxide glasses. Samples with composition x WO3 - 0.30 (NaPO3)n - (0.70-x) NaF, with 0,30 ≤ ≤ 0,60;, were produced by melting quenching methodology. Substitution of tungsten for sodium fluoride generates a linear decrease of glass transition temperature while the stability remains high enough up to = % and decreasing for higher WO3 content. Raman and 31P and 19F 1D MAS-NMR spectroscopies data shows that the less NaF leads to a depolymerization of main phosphate chains, due to formation of − − bonds. In addition, fluorine atoms prefer to bind in the − form, with low tungsten content, or in − , with high proportion All samples showed same calculated values of Ea for ionic conductivity and drop of σ0. For higher fluoride proportion, it was observed a rise in the conductivity of around one order of magnitude. However, UV-Vis absorption curves demonstrate more presence of W5+ species in samples with ≥ %. This leads to a mixed conductivity of these materials. In order to obtain maximum ionic conductivity, NaF and (NaPO3)n were replaced by Li2O and (LiPO3)n respectively. Samples with composition x WO3 – 0.40 (LiPO3)n – (0.60-x) Li2O, with 0.30 ≤ ≤ 0.50; 0.40 WO3 – y (LiPO3)n – (0.60- y) Li2O, with 0.30 ≤ ≤ 0.50 and z WO3 – (0.80-z) (LiPO3)n – 0.20 Li2O, with 0.30 ≤ ≤ 0.50; were also produced using the melting quenching methodology. The three series of samples presented linear increase of Tg with their respective substitutions, besides having good thermal stability (> 100 °). Raman and 31P 1D MAS-NMR spectroscopies data exhibited the influence of WO3 content on the depolymerization of phosphate chains, as well as the formation of WO6 unit clusters, when much tungsten is present. Although UV-Vis absorption spectra indicate mixed conductivities in some samples, calculated values of ionic conductivity show that the most conductive sample without presence of reduced species reached 6.3 10−4Ω−1−1, comparable to conductive crystalline samples. / Muitos vidros têm sido estudados como eletrólitos sólidos, a fim de substituírem eletrólitos líquidos comerciais. No entanto, mesmo para composições vítreas ótimas na literatura, valores de condutividade similares àqueles presentes pelos líquidos estão muito além do alcançado. Este trabalho pretende mostrar como as mudanças na estrutura, por meio da composição, podem ajudar a aumentar a condutividade em vidros óxidos. Amostras com composição x WO3 – 0,30 (NaPO3)n – (0,70-x) NaF, com 0,30 ≤ ≤ 0,60; foram produzidas por meio da metodologia fusão/resfriamento. Substituição de tungstênio por fluoreto de sódio gera um decréscimo linear da temperatura de transição vítrea, enquanto que a estabilidade permanece alta até = 40 % e decresce para alto teor de WO3. Dados de Espectroscopias Raman e 31P e 19F MAS-NMR mostram que pouco NaF leva a despolimerização das cadeias principais de fosfato, devido a formação de ligações − − . Além disso, átomo de flúor prefere ligar-se na forma − , com baixa proporção de tungstênio, ou em − , com alta proporção. Todas as amostras apresentaram mesmos valores calculados de energia de ativação para condutividade iônica e queda de σ0. Para maior proporção de fluoreto, observou-se um incremento por volta de uma ordem de magnitude. Entretanto, curvas de absorção no UV-Vis demonstrou a maior presença de espécies W5+ em amostras com ≥ 50 % . Isto leva a uma condutividade mista destes materiais. A fim de se obter condutividade iônica máxima, NaF e (NaPO3)n foram substituídos por Li2O e (LiPO3)n respectivamente. Amostras com composições x WO3 – 0,40 (LiPO3)n – (0,60-x) Li2O, com 0,30 ≤ ≤ 0,50; 0,40 WO3 – y (LiPO3)n – (0,60-y) Li2O, com 0,30 ≤ ≤ 0,50 e z WO3 – (0,80-z) (LiPO3)n – 0,20 Li2O, com 0,30 ≤ ≤ 0,50; também foram produzidas por meio da metodologia fusão/resfriamento. As três séries de amostras apresentaram incremento linear de Tg com suas respectivas substituições, além de terem boa estabilidade térmica (> 100 °). Dados de Espectroscopia Raman e 31P MAS-NMR registraram a influência do teor de WO3 na despolimerização das cadeias de fosfato, bem a formação de clusters de unidades de WO6, quando muito tungstênio se faz presente. Apesar de curvas de absorção no UV-Vis indicarem a condutividade mista em algumas amostras, valores calculados de condutividade iônica mostram que a amostra mais condutora e sem a presença de espécies reduzidas, atingiu 6,3 10−4 Ω−1−1, comparável com amostras cristalinas condutoras. / CNPq: 141905/2013-1

Les matériaux amorphes sont omniprésents dans la vie quotidienne. Ils comprennent des verres "dures" et "mous". Le systèmes amorphes durs sont généralement considérés comme des matériaux de structure, dont les propriétés et l'utilisation sont comparable à celles des solides cristallins. Les verres mous sont généralement considérés comme des fluides complexes, décrits pour leurs propriétés rhéologiques et les applications correspondantes pratiques. Les matériaux amorphes peuvent soit présenter un comportement de type solide ou de flux en fonction de leur charge mécanique: tous sont des fluides à limite apparente d'élasticité. Leurs limites d'utilisation sont souvent définies par l'apparition de bandes de cisaillement, une forme extrême de localisation vu dans des verres moléculaires ainsi que dans les matériaux granulaires. Il ya maintenant des preuves considérables que ce sont les conséquences de l'existence d'une structure désordonnée au niveau des constituants élémentaires. Les études de la plasticité des solides amorphes, sont encore gênés par l'absence de tout défaut identifiable responsable de la réponse plastique. Il est maintenant reconnu que la plasticité est le résultat net des réarrangements locaux, ou "transformations de cisaillement", impliquant des petits groupes de particules. Ces réarrangements sont thermiquement - activées et sont ubiquitaires dans le processus de relaxation de déformation structurelle des verres à basse température. Malheureusement, ils se déroulent sur des échelles de temps long par rapport à ceux qui sont accessibles aux simulations de dynamique moléculaire. Certains nouveaux outils très prometteurs, cependant, ouvrent la voie vers des algorithmes accélérés pour la simulation de systèmes thermiques. Ils sont basés sur les méthodes numériques développées au cours de ces deux dernières décennies pour déterminer les transitions thermiquement activés dans les systèmes atomiques. Un intérêt particulier ici est la technique d'activation-relaxation (ART). Dans cette étude, nous allons montrer que, même si une recherche exhaustive des points de selle pour des solides désordonnés est impossible, ART peut identifier assez de points de selles pour construire des échantillons statistiquement pertinents, à partir desquelle des distributions stationnaires peuvent être calculées. Le but de cette thèse strictement numérique était de prédire les cinétiques thermiquement activées dans des verres telles que celles rencontrées expérimentalement. La nature de ces événements microscopique qui se produisent dans miscroscopic systèmes désordonnés a été étudiée à la fois sous des contraintes mécaniques et dans des conditions de vieillissement. Nous étudions deux grandeurs décrivant ces événements au sein de l'approximation harmonique de la théorie de l'état de transition, c'est à dire l'énergie d'activation et la fréquence d'attaque. Etant donné que dans la définition d'une fréquence d'attaque la courbure du minimum initial et le point de selle sont présents, nous voulions voir (pour les verres métalliques et verres de silice) s'il y avait une relation entre les fréquences de tentative et les énergies d'activation d'un événement donné. Cette corrélation a été précédemment observée pour un large éventail de phénomènes et est appelé la règle de compensation Meyer-Neldel. Nous aussi tentons de répondre si le simple potentiel BKS sans sommation d'Ewald est capable de reproduire le polyamorphisme observé dans les verres de silice soumis à une compression hydrostatique. Outre les processus activés thermiquement, les analyses structurelles de verres métalliques et de silice ont été réalisées. Les ordres de courte et moyenne portée ont été caractérisées par deux méthodes: pavages de Voronoı pour les verres métalliques, nous fournissant des informations sur les conformations voisines proches, et dans le cas de la silice, les statistiques de distributions de chaînes moléculaires. / Amorphous materials are ubiquitous in everyday life. They comprise "hard" and"soft" glasses. Hard amorphous systems are usually seen as structure materials, with properties and use comparable to those of crystalline solids. Soft glasses are usually seen as complex fluids, described in terms of their rheological properties with the corresponding practical applications (concrete, paints, drilling mud, cosmetic gels, creams or foams, etc). Amorphous materials can either present a solid-like behaviour or flow depending on their mechanical load: all are yield-stress fluids. Their usage limits are often defined by the occurrence of shear-banding, an extreme form of localization seen in molecular glasses as well as in granular materials. There is now considerable evidence that they are consequences of the existence of a disordered structure at the level of the elementary constituents (atoms, particles,...). Studies of plasticity in amorphous solids, are still hampered by the lack of any identifiable defect responsible for the plastic response. It is now acknowledged that plasticity is the net result of local rearrangements, or "shear transformations", involving small clusters of (say a few tens of) particles. These rearrangements are thermally--activated and are ubiquitous processes in the structural relaxation and deformation of glasses at low temperatures. Unfortunately, they take place over timescales long compared to those accessible to direct Molecular Dynamics simulations. Some extremely promising new tools, however, are opening the route towards accelerated algorithms for the simulation of thermal systems. They are based on numerical methods developed over these last two decades to determine thermally activated transitions in atomic systems. Of particular interest here is the Activation-Relaxation Technique (ART), an eigenvector-following method that allows the identification of activated states and paths in the potential energy landscape of atomic systems. In this study, we will show that although an exhaustive search for saddle points in case of disordered solids is unfeasible (because of the exponential number of activated states), ART can identify enough saddles to build statistically relevant samples, from which stationary distributions can be computed. The purpose of this strictly numerical thesis was the prediction of thermally activated kinetics in glasses such as those encountered experimentally. The nature of such miscroscopic events occuring in disordered systems was studied both under mechanical stress and in ageing conditions. We investigate two quantities that describe thermally-activated events within the harmonic approximation of the transition state theory, i.e. activation energy and attempt frequency.Since in the definition of an attempt frequency the curvature of the initial minimum and the saddle point are present, we wanted to see if there was a relation between attempt frequencies and activation energies of a given event in two types of systems: metallic glasses and silica glasses. Such correlation had been observed before for a wide range of phenomena and is referred to as the Meyer-Neldel compensation rule. We also attempt to answer if the simple BKS potential without Ewald summation is able to reproduce polyamorphism observed in silica glasses subject to hydrostatic compression and characterized mainly in terms of coordination numbers. Apart from thermally activated processes, the structural analyses of metallic and silica glasses were performed. The short and medium range orders were characterized using two methods: Voronoi tesselations for metallic glasses, providing us information about near neighbor conformations, and in case of silica, statistics of ring distributions.

CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / CNPq - Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / FAPEMIG - Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais / A caracterização de materiais vítreos dopados tem sido uma área importante para o desenvolvimento de tecnologias fotônicas. Porém, com o desenvolvimento da nanociência e a descoberta das propriedades quânticas dos nanocristais, a quantidade de materiais vítreos a serem estudados aumentou de forma abrupta, o qual despertou um forte interesse da comunidade científica visando possíveis aplicações tecnológicas. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo investigar o índice de refração não linear da matriz vítrea a base de fosfato (P2O5 + AhO3 + Na2O + K2O) dopada com íons de neodímio e nanocristais de CdS. Destaca-se que a pesquisa corresponde à caracterização de uma matriz fosfata pouco conhecida na literatura, com dopantes de categorias distintas, sendo um Terra Rara e um nanocristal, nos quais apresentam picos de absorção próximos. Para a presente caracterização não linear, foi utilizada a técnica de Z-Scan, conhecido na literatura por sua simplicidade e precisão quando comparada com outras técnicas capazes de realizar a mesma medida. Medidas de absorção ótica e tempo de vida também foram feitas, pois fornecem parâmetros lineares para o cálculo das propriedades não lineares. Os resultados mostram que existe uma interação entre os dopantes, capaz de gerar uma variação nos parâmetros lineares e não lineares em estudo. / The characterization of doped glasses has been an important area for the development of photonic technologies. However, the development of nanoscience and the discovery of the quantic properties of nanocrystals, increased the number of researches in glass materials with interest in technological applications by the scientific community. This work aims to investigate the nonlinear refractive index of the phosphate glass matrix (P2O5 + Al2O3 + Na2O + K2O) doped with neodymium ions and CdS nanocrystals. This research characterizes a phosphate glass matrix, which is not well known in the literature with different dopants, in this case, rare earths and nanocrystals, which they show similar absorption peaks at ultraviolet. For a nonlinear optics characterization was used the Z-Scan technique, known to its simplicity and precision when compared to other techniques. Linear optical measurements were also made, such as optical absorption and lifetime, to calculate of non-linear optics properties. The results show there is an interaction between the dopants, capable of generating a variation in linear and nonlinear optical parameters under study. / Dissertação (Mestrado)

Le poling thermique est une technique consistant à appliquer un fort champ électrique (DC) à un substrat de verre chauffé. Après traitement, un champ électrique est figé au sein de la matrice vitreuse, brisant sa centrosymmétrie. La présence de ce champ permet d’accéder à des propriétés d’optique nonlinéaire du second ordre, habituellement interdite dans un milieu centrosymmétrique tel que le verre. En plus des propriétés d’optique nonlinéaire, la présence du champ électrique a été associée à des modifications structurelles et compositionnelles mais également à des changements de propriétés de surface. Notre objectif a été d’utiliser cette technique pour modifier les propriétés de réactivité de surface et optique de verres d’oxyde (borosilicate et borophosphate de niobium (BPN)) et de verres de chalcogénures. Après poling, les modifications structurelles ont été caractérisée par spectroscopie vibrationnelle Raman et infrarouge. L’intensité et la localisation du champ électrique ont été caractérisées par des techniques de génération de seconde harmonique (SHG) : une analyse quantitative avec les franges de Maker et une d’imagerie μSHG. Le traitement a permis d’augmenter localement la réactivité de surface du verre borosilicate. Dans les verres BPN et chalcogénures, le traitement a permis de contrôler les propriétés optiques à la fois linéaire et nonlinéaire à l’échelle micrométrique. Ces résultats permettent d’envisager l’utilisation du poling thermique pour des applications en photonique intégrée. / Thermal poling is a technique which consists in the application of a strong DC electric field to a heated glass substrate. Following the treatment, a static electric field is frozen inside the glass matrix, effectively breaking its centrosymmetry. Presence of the electric field allows for second order non-linear optical properties usually forbidden in centrosymmetric medium such as glasses. In addition to nonlinear optical properties, the presence of the electric field has been associated with structural/compositional modifications as well as surface property changes. Our objective was to use this technique to tailor surface reactivity and optical properties in oxide (borosilicate and niobium borophosphate) and chalcogenide glasses. After poling, structural modifications were investigated using Raman and infrared spectroscopy. Strength and localization of the electric field were characterized by Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) techniques: quantitative Maker fringes analysis and μSHG imaging. The treatment has successfully allowed to locally enhanced the surface reactivity of a borosilicate glass. In niobium borophosphate and chalcogenide glasses, the treatment has permitted to control optical properties both linearly and non-linearly at the micrometric scale. These results show that thermal poling could be used to create functional devices for applications in integrated photonics.

Pas de résumé en français / Being compared with oxide glasses, chalcogenide glasses have fine infrared transmissivity and higher optical nonlinearity, and also could be drawn into optical fibers. So chalcogenide glasses and fibers have potential wide applications in the fields of all-optical information processing, infrared lasers, nonlinear optical devices, and so on, the studies of their optical nonlinearity are one of the attractive subjects in the area of optoelectronics at present. The main purpose of this paper is to improve the stability and enhance the intensity of nonlinearity in chalcogenide glasses and fibers by means of exploring new glass compositions, optimizing the external field poling method, designing and fabricating fibers with special structures, all of these will promote their real applications. The main results are concluded as follows . The glass-forming region of GeS2-GA2S3-AgX (X=Cl, Br, I) and GeS2-Ga (In)2S3-CuI systems were determined , the maximal content of the additive halides are 70% and 12% respectively. In both two systems glasses, with the increasing addition of halides, the thermal stability reduce, density and linear refractive index increase, the ultraviolet cut-off edges shift to longer wavelength, while the infrared cut-off edges keep almost the same. 30GeS2 35Ga2S3 35AgCl and 47.5GeS2 17.5Ga2S3 35AgCl surface- and bulk-crystallized glasses that contain AgGaGeS4 nonlinear optical crystallites were prepared. Obvious second harmonic generation (SHG) could be observed in these crystallized glasses, and their intensity relate to the distribution and size of the precipitated AgGaGeS4 crystals, the maximal second-order nonlinearity coefficients is as high as 12.4pm/V. These crystallized glasses have good chemical and SHG stability. For GeS2-Ga (In)2S3-CuI systems glasses, due to their small glass-forming region, they are not suit for the preparation of crystallized glasses that contain CuGaS2 or CuInS2 nonlinear optical crystals. According to the structural studies of two system glasses, the main structural units of theses glasses are [YS4-xXx] (Y=Ge, Ga, In. X=Cl, Br, I) mixed anion tetrahedrons, they form a three-dimensional glassy network through bridging sulphur bonds. When the contents of halides MX(M=Ag, Cu. X=Cl, Br, I) are low, some [XxS3-xGe(Ga)S3-xXx] (X=Cl, Br, I) mixed ethane-like structural units exist in the glass network, and they will gradually transform to [YS4-xXx] (Y=Ge, Ga, In. X=Cl, Br, I) mixed anion tetrahedrons with the increasing content of halides, till totally disappear. Both two system glasses have ultrafast (~150fs) third-order optical nonlinearity and reverse saturation absorption, they belong to self-focusing medium. The third-order optical nonlinearity mainly originate from the distortion of electron cloud of Y-X (Y=Ge, Ga, In, X=Cl, Br, I, S) bonds in the structural units. For GeS2-GA2S3-AgX (X=Cl, Br, I) system glasses, the largest nonlinear susceptibility n2 is 10.50x10-18 m/W, the smallest figure of merit (FOM) is 0.606. In addition, the relation of n2 with n0 do not obey Miller’s rule, but in accordance with the structural variation. Among the glass compositions with different additive halogens, Br-containing glasses have relatively best third-order nonlinearities. For GeS2-Ga (In)2S3-CuI system glasses, the largest nonlinear susceptibility n2 is 9.37x10-18 m/W, the smallest figure of merit (FOM) is 2.237. High purity AS2S3 glass performs and low loss single index fibers with diameter of 100~400µm that drawn form these performs were prepared, the transmission losses between 2~6 µm is only 0.5dB/m. AS2S3 tapered fibers have a uniform diameter of taper wasit, fine surface smoothness, and sharp taper transition part.

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