| Abstract [eng] |
Since 1926 when the preliminary structure of natural silicate minerals having cubic structure was determined, the family of garnets became one of the most extensively studied group of compounds. Garnets containing transition metals and rare-earths carry many important technological uses as magnetic materials, as phosphor materials employed in solid state lasers, television screens and light-emitting diodes, as computer memories, as near UV and near IR radiation up/down-converting compounds in Si solar cells and in other devices as microwave optical elements. The europium or chromium doped garnets also could be applied in the new field as optical imaging. The improvements in mechanical and optical properties, the new areas of applications provide a strong motivation for studying garnets in general. To synthesize and to characterize new mixed-metal garnets was the main aim of the present thesis. The investigation of the dependence of europium optical properties on the local environment in different garnets was also in the field of interest. Therefore, powders of the new mixed-metal garnets were synthesized by sol-gel route, while traveling solvent floating zone method was used for crystal growth. X-ray diffraction was used for phase identification. The neutrons diffractions and Rietveld refinement gave information of the crystal structure. Finally, reflection, excitation and emission spectra were recorded for the investigation of the optical properties. |
