Effects of Mn doping on the structural, linear and nonlinear optical properties of Gd2O3 nanoparticles

Abstract

We report on the effects of Mn doping on the structural, linear, and nonlinear optical properties of Gd2-xMnxO3 nanoparticles (x = 0.00, 0.03, 0.05, and 0.10). The Gd2-xMnxO3 powders were prepared using sol-gel process. The x-ray diffraction technique shows that the Mn3+ doping results in a small decrease in lattice parameter and an increase in crystallite size. UV–visible measurements were carried out in the wavelength range of 200–800 nm. The direct optical band gap estimated using Tauc model decreases with increasing Mn content from 5.152 to 5.008 eV, while Urbach energy increases from 0.753 to 1.012 eV. Moreover, the insertion of Mn results in a significant enhancement in the optical parameters (refractive index, extinction coefficient, absorption coefficient, dielectric constants (ε', ε"), optical and electrical conductivity. The dispersion energy (Ed) increases from 24.13 to 30.1 eV, while the single oscillator energy (E0) declines lightly from 10.28 to 9.998 eV with the increase of Mn content. With Mn doping an enhancement in the static linear refractive index (n0) and high-frequency dielectric constant (ε∞) were also observed. Analysis of linear and nonlinear optical parameters shows that the presence of manganese enhanced the linear optical susceptibility (χ(1)), third-order non-linear susceptibility (χ(3)), and non-linear refractive index (n2). These optical results show the potential applications of Gd2-xMnxO3 nanoparticles (x = 0.00, 0.03, 0.05 and 0.10) in various optical devices.