Phosphate glasses for GRIN structures by ion exchange

Phosphate glasses were treated as a material for GRIN-lens production by silver-alkaline ion exchange. Glass durability (in salt melts) known to be a general obstacle for using these glasses in ion exchange technologies was found to profoundly increase in the sequence of meta ⇒ piro ⇒ orthophosphate. It is supposed to be due to the structure of phosphate glasses, which transforms in this sequence from 1D to 3D space arrangement of the glass-forming network. Ion exchange properties of these glasses were studied as well, and the maximal index variation in sodium–silver ion exchange was found to be 0.17.