Oxide glasses with magnetic nanoparticles: transparent magnets (Faraday rotation and electron magnetic resonance studies)

In the first part of this paper we outline the state of the art in the field of magnetic nanoparticles in oxide glasses. We describe the theoretical background of two complementary techniques used for the studies of the state of paramagnetic ions, clusters and magnetic particles in a diamagnetic matrix, viz., magnetooptical Faraday rotation (FR) and electron magnetic resonance (EMIR) and we overview previous results obtained with these techniques for several glass systems. In the second part, we highlight the case of potassium-alumina-borate glasses - a glassy system where doping with paramagnetic oxides results in formation of magnetic particles at very low contents of paramagnetic additions: Fe2O3 and MnO. In the special case when the ratio of the iron and manganese oxides in the charge is 3/2, magnetic nanoparticles with characteristics close to those of manganese ferrite are formed already at the first stage of the glass preparation. After thermal treatment all glasses show FR and EMR spectra attesting to the presence of superparamagnetic nanoparticles, characterized by relatively broad size and shape distributions. The formation of magnetic nanoparticles confers to these glasses magnetic and magnetooptical properties typical of magnetically ordered substances. At the same time, the glasses remain transparent in a part of the visible and near infrared spectral range and display a high FR value. Such properties make them particularly interesting for use as new media for various magneto-optical devices. (C) 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim