Optical absorption and gamma-radiation-shielding parameter studies of Tm3+-doped multicomponent borosilicate glasses

Abstract

Different concentrations (0.1‒2.0 mol%) of Tm3+-doped multicomponent borosilicate glasses with 10 mol% Li2O (alkali) or MgO (alkaline) have been synthesized and their optical absorption and radiation shielding features were studied. For both Li2O and MgO series 0.5 mol% Tm3+-doped glass samples, the evaluated Ωλ (λ = 2, 4, and 6) Judd–Ofelt (JO) intensity parameters from experimental oscillator strengths were used in estimating the radiative transition probabilities (AR), branching ratios (βR), and radiative lifetimes (τR) for several emission transitions. Using the XCOM software, the mass attenuation coefficients (µ/ρ) for all the fabricated glasses were evaluated within the 0.015‒10 MeV energy range. Also, the (µ/ρ) values were calculated at 0.356, 0.662, 1.173, and 1.33 MeV photon energies by MCNP5 simulation code and the results were compared with those obtained by XCOM. The (µ/ρ) values for Li2O, as well as MgO series glasses, increase with the addition of Tm2O3 and these values for MgO series glasses are slightly higher with respect to Li2O series glasses. From the (µ/ρ) values, effective atomic number (Zeff), half-value layer (HVL), and mean free path (MFP) were calculated and the HVL and MFP results revealed that high-energy photons have more penetration into a glass sample compared to low-energy photons. Further, geometric progression (GP) fitting method was utilized to calculate the exposure buildup factor (EBF) within the 0.015‒15 MeV energy range. The 2.0 mol% Tm2O3-doped glasses show a better ability to attenuate gamma-rays in comparison to other glass samples, so the addition of Tm2O3 content leads to improvement of the shielding efficiency of the prepared glasses.