The formation and properties of glasses based on Ga2S3-Bi2S3 system

Abstract

The formation and properties of glasses based on a stoichiometric pseudo-three-component system, Ga2 S3-Bi2 S3-SnS, were investigated for the application as an infrared transmitting material. Glasses were obtained in the compositional range from 30 to 40 mol% of GaS3/2, 30 to 50 mol% of BiS3/2, and 10 to 30 mol% of SnS. Glasses were also obtained for a system in which some parts of the Bi2 S3 were replaced by the same molar amount of Sb2 S3. The glass transition temperatures of the obtained glasses were within a range of 260 to 305°C. Thermally stable glasses were obtained although the glass system contained neither selenium nor arsenic and less amount of antimony, which are commonly used for typical chalcogenide glasses. The difference between crystallization and glass transition temperatures was close to 90 K for the glass with a composition of 40GaS3/2 · 40BiS3/2 · 20SnS, and it was extended beyond 100 K by replacing a part of the bismuth with antimony. The transmission spectra of the glasses showed that they have a wide optical window covering a wavelength region from 1.4 μm to 13 μm.