Effect of Dy3+ ions on physical, structural and thermal properties of ZnNaPbB glasses

In this report, inspired by the excellent spectroscopic characteristics of dysprosium (Dy3+) ions doped borate glasses, a series with the composition (70-x)B2O3-10ZnO-10PbO-10Na(2)CO(3)-xDy(2)O(3) (here 'x' have the values as 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 in mol %) was made using the melt quenching process and named as ZnNaPbBDy0.1 to ZnNaPbBDy2.0. Here we study the physical, structural and thermal properties of Dy3+ ions doped Zinc Sodium Lead Borate (ZnNaPbB) glasses through different characterization techniques like Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy, Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and decay spectroscopy. Several physical parameters were evaluated to assess the effect of Dy3+ inclusion. FT-IR and Raman spectra confirm the presence of BO3 and BO4 structural units. The data recorded by DSC spectra have been used to predict the glass transition temperature (T-g). The nature of decay spectra was estimated which diverges from exponential to non-exponential at higher concentrations. The decay spectral data is used to calculate the experimental lifetimes for all the glass samples. The Inoakutti Hirayama (I-H) model and Dexter's plot are used to confirm the type of interaction between the donor and acceptor Dy3+-Dy3+ ions is dipole-dipole in nature that is responsible for the emission intensity quenching with concentration. All the above results might be advantageous for variety of applications in photonic devices.