Linear optical features and radiation shielding competence of ZnO–B2O3–TeO2-Eu2O3 glasses: Role of Eu3+ ions

Abstract

Abstract The effect of Eu3+ ions on the linear and radiation shielding factors of zinc-borate tellurite glass doped with different contents of Eu2O3 with the form (25-x)ZnO–24B2O3–51TeO2-xEu2O3: x = 0 (E1), 0.5 (E2), 1 (E3), and 3 (E4) mol% have been investigated. The linear refractive index of the E1-E4 glasses varied from 2.48 to 2.54. The (Rmolar) increased from 20.809 (cm3/mol) for E1 glass to 21.040 (cm3/mol) for E4 glass, while the (Rloss) increased from 0.180 to 0.189. The (Mcriterion) varied from 0.279 to 0.268 for the investigated E1-E4 glasses. The (estatic) varies from 6.150 to 6.451, while the (χ*) varied from 0.724 to 0.683. The mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ) was calculated via Phy-X/PSD program. At 0.284 MeV, the μ/ρ changes from 0.151 to 0.159 cm2/g, whereas, at 1.33 MeV, the μ/ρ increases from 0.0504 to 0.0506 cm2/g. Therefore, the (μ/ρ) obeys the trend: (μ/ρ)E1 (HVL)E2 > (HVL)E3 > (HVL)E4. Therefore, the increasing of Eu3+ ions in the investigated zinc-borate tellurite glasses leads to enhance of their linear optical and gamma-ray shielding factors. In addition, the E4 (3 mol% Eu2O3) glass sample owns better gamma ray's absorption properties compared with the rest of the investigated glasses intensively utilized in the protection against harmful gamma radiations.