Broadband tunable infrared emission of Ni2+-doped ZnGa/AlO4 integrated transparent glass ceramics.

• Fine tailoring the surrounding environment of Ni2+ ions to achieve tunable NIR emission. • The value of FWHM of composite exceeds 280 nm, which is a nice result. • This high-performance solid possesses good stability and repeatability. • High level emission and long life make it an excellent candidate material for infrared light sources. ZnGa/AlO 4 provides an octahedral coordination field in which Ni2+ serves as the luminescent center and combines with highly attractive transparent glass ceramics, playing a crucial role in achieving broadband near-infrared (NIR) emission. Transparent glass-ceramics embedded with ZnGa/AlO 4 :Ni2+ mixed crystals prepared by secondary high-temperature melting methods retain the structural characteristics of the dual-phase crystal, which was confirmed by a series of structural and morphological characterization. Through fine tailoring, the surrounding Ni2+ ligand field environment was transformed, realizing special composite NIR emission characteristics with a half-maximum width (FWHM) exceeding 280 nm, which achieved the best results for now in kinds of similar materials. The results show that the NIR emission of ZnGa/AlO 4 :Ni2+-doped transparent glass-ceramics is significantly broadened while maintaining a high level and a long lifetime, which makes it an excellent candidate material for IR light sources and broadband fiber amplifiers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]