Silica based functional materials: - Charge transport in nanostructured SnO2: SiO2 thin films. - Second harmonic generation in niobium potassium silicate glasses. - Tapered silica optical microfibres for gas sensors

"Charge transport in nanostructured SnO2:SiO2 thin films": Silica based nanostructured thin films grown on silicon substrates are promising materials for novel light emitter devices. In particular, tin dioxide is a wide band gap n-type semiconductor (Eg=3.6 eV) with an expected band-to-band emission centered in the ultraviolet (344 nm) region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Our group succesfully demonstrated UV emission from such systems, but at the beginning of my work many issues in charge transport processes needed to be explained. Aim of this project was to clarify electric transport and charge trapping mechanisms. As a result of a materials science approach we can now interpret the experimental data through specific relationships between synthesis conditions, clustering morphology (nanoparticle (NP) size distribution and volumic concetration, interphase substoichiometry, film thickness), and electric response. The observed phenomena have been analyzed within the percolation theory. Main results concern: electric transport of both holes and electrons is sustained by NP-to-NP hopping events and dielectric enhancement results from oscillating charges (holes) on NPs. "Second Harmonic Generation in potassium niobium silicate glasses": Second harmonic generation (SHG) is a non linear optical process largely employed in current laser technology and photonics. However in almost every application the material employed for these purposes are single crystals. Therefore the possibility to achieve large SHG in amorphous systems may lead to devices with innovative configurations. SHG may occur only if the system is non-centrosymmetric, therefore for glasses it is forbidden due to intrinsic isotropy. The inversion symmetry can be broken up with poling treatments. They consist in applying strong electrostatic field while the sample is stressed by external perturbation (typically heat, electron beam or laser light). We have explored the effect of thermal poling treatment on potassium niobium silicate glasses on inducing non linear optical properties. The results have revealed a strong SHG associated with structural modifications. The proposed mechanism involves a rearrangement of niobium oxide groups mediated by non bridging oxygen and potassium ion transport across the glass. These new charge arrangements form a non-centrosymmetric region underneath the anodic contact responsible of the detected SH signal. "Tapered silica optical microfibres for gas sensors": In the last years, tapered silica fibres have attracted much interest in photonic research, because of peculiar properties emerging in waveguides with lateral dimensions of the same order of the guided modes. In particular, in these structures the large evanescent field enables some interesting properties, such as microfluidic sensors and high Q optical resonators (coiling the tapered fibre), non-linear effects and supercontinuum generation. In this project, carried out at the University of Southampton (UK) in the group of Dr. Gilberto Brambilla, we have explored the feasibility of an innovative optical absorption device, based on ring down spectroscopy. In this case we are interested in a sensor for in-line application: a fluidic channel wrapped with tapered fibre in which the analyte can flow. The large power fraction outside the fibre interacts with the flowing medium and any change in the surrounding optical properties (refractive index or absorption coefficient) leads to a modification of the recorded light intensity propagating in the fibre. The idea is to exploit ring down time of a silica tapered microcoil resonator as an indicator of the absorption coefficient of a gas (or a liquid) flowing in the channel.