Unveiling the gamma irradiation effects on linear and nonlinear optical properties of CeO2–Na2O–SrO–B2O3 glass

Abstract

Herein, this work aims to unveil the gamma irradiation effects on the structural, linear and nonlinear optical properties of CeO2–Na2O–SrO–B2O3 (CSSB) glass. The CSSB glass system was prepared via the conventional melt annealing method and exposed to gamma irradiation with different doses (0, 2, 5, and 10) kGy. The XRD patterns confirmed the amorphous nature of the pristine and gamma-irradiated CSSB glass samples. Also, the observed FTIR spectra show almost no major changes in the absorption vibrational bands either in their positions or intensity with increasing the radiation dose indicating the stability of compacted CSSB glass structures and their radiation shielding effect due to the presence of cerium ions. Further, the energy gap decrease from 3.18 eV to 2.59 eV while the Urbach energy increased from 5.78 eV to 8.60 eV with increasing the irradiation doses. Furthermore, the dispersion constants and the dielectric constants as a function of the irradiation doses were estimated. This performance can be ascribed to the enrichment of charge carriers to polarization is restricted. Additionally, the reduction in the oscillator energy and the dispersion energy due to increase in γ-irradiation doses was seen. Furthermore, the non-linear absorption coefficient was enhanced for γ-irradiated CSSB glass films. Overall, the electronic polarizability of γ-irradiated CSSB glass films unveils the possibility of utilizing it in applications of optics and electronics. Besides, the prepared glasses have a remarkable reluctance against gamma irradiation make them promising materials in the radiation shielding utilizations.