Effect of rare earth elements on the structural and optical properties of PMMA for possible uses in polymer optical communications

Rare-earth elements (REEs) as Tm+3, Er+3, Yb+3 and Nd+3 have a significant optical photon emission. Therefore, Films of PMMA doped with 5 wt.% of NdCl3, TmCl3, ErCl3 or YbCl3 were prepared using the casting technique. FTIR of the prepared films has been studied. The optical and dispersion behavior of all doped samples have been investigated. The reflectance (R) and the transmittance (T) were measured in the wavelength range of 200-2500 nm. FTIR of all PMMA reveals that, REEs addition to PMMA samples creates new transmission peaks C=O groups and a decrease in the intensity of the absorption band of C-O groups has been obtained. The results showed the dependency of the refractive index and energy gap on the REE electronic transitions nature. The obtained results suggest strongly the applicability of these PMMA derivatives in improving the performance of the polymer optical fiber (POF).