Dual-functional Sm3+ activated bismuth borate glasses for laser emission and nuclear radiation shielding

In the present study, five cylindrical glass samples with the composition 10Al 2 O 3 – (89–x)B 2 O 3 – xBi 2 O 3 – 1Sm 2 O 3 (where x = 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 mol%) were synthesized. The density increases from 4.186 to 5.809 g/cm 3 and T g decreases from 471 °C to 434 °C with the Bi 2 O 3 content, indicating its influence on the glass structure. The Judd–Ofelt parameters exhibited the trend Ω 4 > Ω 2 > Ω 6 and higher χ (1.44) value of 15 mol% doped glass is obtained. Among the prepared samples, Bi15 glass exhibits higher radiative transition probability (301.442), branching ratio (0.55) and stimulated emission cross-Sect. (5.06 × 10 − 22 cm − 2 ). The calculated quantum efficiency comes out to be 72.02% (Bi15 sample), that is higher than other Sm 3+ activated glasses. And, non-radiative transfer rate of Bi15 glass is minimum (231.20 s − 1 ), signifies its compatibility for laser applications. The MAC increases from 2.823 to 3.854 cm 2 /g at 59.54 keV and increases from 0.093 to 0.101 cm 2 /g at 662 keV. This shows that the attenuation ability of a material increases with the Bi 2 O 3 concentration. Further, the effective atomic number increases from 60.078 to 71.358 at 59.54 keV and varies from 15.496 to 25.129 at 662 keV. Notably, the glass containing 35 mol% Bi 2 O 3 demonstrated lower HVL (1.477 cm) than the reported glasses, indicating small thickness of prepared material is sufficient to attenuate incident radiations. The results suggest its good reliability for gamma radiation shielding.