Effect of gamma irradiation on physical, optical, spectroscopic and structural properties of Er3+-doped vitreous zinc borotellurite

Abstract

In the present report, erbium doped zinc borotellurite glasses were irradiated with 50 kGy gamma radiation using a60Co radioisotope source. The effect of gamma irradiation on the physical, structural, optical and spectroscopic properties of erbium doped zinc borotellurite glasses was studied. Also the shielding properties of the un-irradiated glasses were studied with the help of Phy-X/PSD software. The gamma irradiation caused some structural changes as indicated by FTIR and Raman studies which may be due to the formation of the new structural units. Its influence on the optical properties like band gap (direct and indirect band gap), Urbach energy and refractive index were analyzed with the help of UV–Vis–NIR spectrometer. The UV–Vis–NIR absorption spectra showed increase in absorption after the gamma irradiation. The optical band gap value decreased for the irradiated samples. The spectroscopic properties such as stimulated emission cross-section, bandwidth, lifetime etc. Got marginally modified due to gamma irradiation. The shielding properties of the un-irradiated glasses were improved with the increasing rare earth concentration. The glasses with rare earth doping showed less changes in their properties after gamma irradiation which indicates that these glasses are more resistant to gamma radiation as compared to the base glass.