The influence of CdSe and ZnSe nanoparticles on the optical properties of Sm3+ ions in lead borate glasses

Abstract

The effect of glass composition and the presence of CdSe/ZnSe nanoparticles (NPs) on the optical absorption and fluorescence of Sm-doped lead borate glasses are studied. Three sets of glass samples xPbO:(99.5-x) B2O3:0.5Sm2O3, x = 29.5–69.5 mol%, xPbO:(96.5-x) B2O3:0.5Sm2O3: 3CdSe/ZnSe, x = 36.5, and 56.5 mol% are prepared. NPs are grown by annealing these glasses just below the glass transition temperature. Average size of both types of NPs increases with annealing time; however, CdSe NPs grew to a larger size range (2 to 20 nm) compared to ZnSe NPs (1 to 16 nm). We analyzed the hypersensitive transition, intensity parameters, radiative transition probability, stimulated emission cross section (σp), and the area ratio of the electric dipole/magnetic dipole transitions of Sm3+. The intensity parameters show a minimum at 11 h annealing for 36.5 mol% and a maximum for the same annealing duration in 56.5 mol% PbO containing CdSe NPs. The σp for 56.5 mol% of PbO with CdSe NPs is found to be a maximum when the average NP size is around 14 nm. ZnSe NPs containing glasses also show significant changes in σp when the average particle size is ~16 nm, for 36.5 mol% PbO. Our results suggest that the optical properties of Sm3+ in lead borate glasses are sensitive to its electronic environment which can be modified by varying the base glass composition and/or incorporating large NPs of CdSe/ZnSe. The large σp values that we observe for some of the glass compositions make them attractive materials for photonic devices and photovoltaic applications.