EXAFS studies on the local structure of Er3+ ions in silica xerogels co-doped with aluminium

The local environment around Er3+ ions in wet and densified (at 900°C) silica xerogels (pure and co-doped with aluminium) has been studied at the Er L3-edge by X-ray absorption spectroscopy using the fluorescence detection technique. The radial distribution functions (RDF), reconstructed from X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), show several changes in the local co-ordination of erbium ions upon densification: shortening of the Er-O and Er-Si/Al distances, decrease of the co-ordination numbers and broadening of the Er-O RDF. The effect of Al co-doping is clearly discerned by EXAFS in both the first and second co-ordination shells for densified gels and mainly in the second shell for wet…