Study of radiation shielding and luminescence properties of 1.5 µm emission from Er3+ doped zinc yttrium borate glasses

Abstract

Every year, a new material composition composed of various oxides glasses emerges, and researchers investigate fascinating properties because of which they contribute more scientific evidence to tailor their properties to enhance its technological importance in solid-state device applications. In purview of such contribution the present work provide a new material composed of (50-x)B2O3 + 45ZnO+ 5Y2O3 + xEr2O3 where (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0) glasses which were prepared with and without yttrium (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0) content. To determine their suitability, various physical, optical, and radiation shielding tests were performed on the synthesized glasses. In this perspective, we highlight some aspects of the prepared glasses, density of the glasses increases with increasing concentration of high ‘z′ oxides, interestingly non-bridging oxygen’s increases and bandgap decreases when erbium content introduced in the matrix. The oscillator strength was evaluated for the observed eight transitions for the present glasses and found to be within the limits as per the root mean square fitting. The Judd-Ofelt theory was used to estimate the Er3+ ions' spectral transition, and the trend (Ω6 > Ω2 > Ω4) for the current glasses indicates that the ligands and Er3+ ions have weak bonds with one another. The lifetime τexp of 4I13/2 transition shows an increase in its value from 112 μs to 238 μs for 0.5 mol% and 1.0 mol% Er2O3 concentration respectively. At 1.5 µm, the 4I13/2 → 4I15/2 transition-related photoemission band is notable because it is useful for IR laser applications. The optical gain co-efficient of the prepared glasses was investigated using the absorption gain cross-section, emission cross-section, and optical gain cross-section. The near-infrared absorption and emission reveal their role in IR device applications. Radiation shielding properties like the mass attenuation coefficient ((µm), effective electron density (Neff), and effective atomic numbers (Zeff) are critical system of measurements for evaluating transparent material shielding performance.