Spectroscopic studies of ZnO borate-tellurite glass doped with Eu2O3

Abstract

Optical, physical and thermal properties of glasses with composition 24B2O3 - (25 - x) ZnO - 51TeO2, x Eu2O3, mol% (where x = 0.0, 0.5, 1 and 3%) were studied. The density, crystallization temperature, oxygen packing density and glassy temperature were found to increase with the addition of Eu2O3. The molar volume, optical band gap (Eg) and refractive index values were found to decrease with increasing Eu2O3 content. The FTIR measurements indicated that the continuous increase of europium concentration helped conversion of [BO3] to [BO4] groups in the base glass ZnO TeO2-B2O3. Thermal analysis reveals that the glass transition temperature Tg, the glass thermal stability ΔT and the glass forming ability Kg increased by the addition of Eu2O3. The transmission and absorption spectra of all glasses indicated that there is a decrease in the optical band gap Eg values due to the enhancement of the number of non-bridging oxygen (NBO) atoms with the addition of Eu2O3. The studied glasses have high values of nonlinear refractive index n2 and nonlinear optical susceptibility χ(3) with a good thermal stability. Thus, such glasses have promised applications in nonlinear optical devices.