Optical transmission, polarizability, and photon/neutron shielding properties of Bi2O3/MnO/B2O3 glass system

Abstract

The Bi2O3/MnO/B2O3 glass system was successfully investigated for their optical and radiation protection features. The optical characterization of the glasses was achieved by estimating and analysing important optical parameters such as molar volume, refractive index, and molar refractivity using standard equations. The photon mass attenuation coefficient MAC of the glasses was estimated by FLUKA Monte Carlo simulation and validated by XCOM computation for energies 0.015 – 15 MeV. Further, the fast neutron removal cross section of the glasses was estimated theoretically. The optical and radiation shielding parameters showed strong dependence on the chemical composition. The molar volume of the BMB-Ax glasses decreased from 40.658 to 36.895 cm3/mole as the molar concentration of B2O3 increased relative to Bi2O3 and MnO. In addition, the refractive index of BMB-Ax reduced from 2.60 to 2.34 while the molar refractivity reduced from 26.73 to 22.05 × 10−24 cm3 for BMB-A1 –A3 accordingly. The MAC ranged from 89.629 to 0.039, 76.162–0.037, and 67.414–0.036 cm2g−1 for BMB-A1, and BMB-A2, and BMB-A3. The effective atomic number of the glasses was within the range: 24.62 – 78.05, 18.27 – 76.60, and 15.41 – 75.49 while the fast neutron removal cross section was estimated to be equal to 0.1002, 0.0972, and 0.0967 cm−1 for B2O3 molar concentration of 3, 4, and 6 respectively. The BMB-Ax glasses showed good optical and radiation shielding properties that makes them potentially useful in optical and radiation protection applications such as photonics and shielding respectively.