Structural, optical and physical analysis of B₂O₃–SiO₂–Na₂O–PbO–ZnO glass with Sm³⁺ ions for reddish–orange laser emission

Borosilicate glasses with composition (50-x) B₂O₃ – (10+x) SiO₂ – 10 Na₂O – 20PbO – 10 ZnO – 0.3 Sm₂O₃ (where x = 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40) doped with Sm³⁺ ions were prepared by standard method. Present works deals with structural, physical and spectral studies of borosilicate glasses. EDAX has been used to establish the elemental composition of these materials. XRD confirms the amorphous nature of the glass materials and also confirmed by the SEM image. Structural information via vibrational modes was provided by FTIR spectra. The increasing and decreasing concentration of SiO₂ affects the physical and optical properties of the materials. Among the entire physical and optical properties oxygen packing density (OPD) play important role in defining the structure of the glass samples. For present glass sample OPD decreases with increasing concentration of SiO₂, this shows that the structure of glass samples is loosely packed. TEM images give information about smooth surface of the glass material. Absorption spectra have been recorded in the range 400–2500 nm and fluorescence spectra have been recorded in visible region at room temperature. With their spectral measurements various spectroscopic parameters have been computed. The value of spectroscopic quality factor is greater than one for present glass samples which shows the stability of the glass samples. The ⁴G_5/2 → ⁶H_7/2 transition is suitable for reddish–orange laser emission. CIE chromaticity diagram has been recorded for verifying the results of fluorescence.