Structural and optical features improvement of Tm3+–doped B2O3 – BaSO4 – TeO2 – Na2O glasses

Highly transparent sodium-telluro-sulphate-borate glasses doped with thulium (Tm3+) were useful for variety of purposes. Thus, a new type of glass system composed of (57- x)B2O3 – 20BaSO4 – 13TeO2 – 10Na2O – (x)Tm2O3 (x = 0.2 to 0.8 mol%) was produced via standard melt-quenching route. The impacts of different Tm3+ contents on the glasses’ physical and optical characteristics were ascertained for the first time. The amorphous nature of the samples was validated by their XRD patterns, and Raman analysis revealed the presence of various chemical functional groups. These samples exhibited Urbach energy, direct band gap and indirect band gap between 0.088 – 0.262 eV, 2.458 – 2.545 eV and 2.098 – 2.425 eV respectively. UV-Vis-NIR absorbance displayed six prominent peaks at 464, 657, 686, 795, 1210 and 1680 nm characteristics to various electronic transitions of Tm3+. The prepared glass composition could be effective in the production of solid-state lasers with a narrow wavelength range.