Structural, optical and physical analysis of B2O3-SiO2-Na2O-PbO-ZnO glass with Sm3+ ions for reddish-orange laser emission

Borosilicate glasses with composition (50-x) B2O3 - (10 + x) SiO2 - 10 Na2O - 20PbO - 10 ZnO - 0.3 Sm2O3 (where x = 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40) doped with Sm3+ ions were prepared by standard method. Present works deals with structural, physical and spectral studies of borosilicate glasses. EDAX has been used to establish the elemental composition of these materials. XRD confirms the amorphous nature of the glass materials and also confirmed by the SEM image. Structural information via vibrational modes was provided by FTIR spectra. The increasing and decreasing concentration of SiO2 affects the physical and optical properties of the materials. Among the entire physical and optical properties oxygen packing density (OPD) play important role in defining the structure of the glass samples. For present glass sample OPD decreases with increasing concentration of SiO2, this shows that the structure of glass samples is loosely packed. TEM images give information about smooth surface of the glass material. Absorption spectra have been recorded in the range 400-2500 nm and fluorescence spectra have been recorded in visible region at room temperature. With their spectral measurements various spectroscopic parameters have been computed. The value of spectroscopic quality factor is greater than one for present glass samples which shows the stability of the glass samples. The (4)G(5/2) -> H-6(7/2) transition is suitable for reddish-orange laser emission. CIE chromaticity diagram has been recorded for verifying the results of fluorescence.