Fabrication, physical, optical characteristics and gamma-ray competence of novel bismo-borate glasses doped with Yb2O3 rare earth

New transparent bismuth borate glasses doped with ytterbium oxide (Yb2O3 = 0.0-5.0 mol%) have been fabricated. The amorphous nature of the glasses was checked via XRD measurements. The optical energy band gaps, and index of refraction of all fabricated glasses were determined with help of the absorbance spectra which measured from 200 to 1100 nm wavelength. The results revealed that the optical energy band gap for the glasses was between 2.56 eV for glass sample with Yb2O3 = 0.5 mol% and 2.84 for sample with Yb2O3 = 1.0 mol%. The refractive index was high (around 2.5). Moreover, gamma photons shielding factors have been evaluated for the glasses via mass attenuation coefficient (mu/rho) which calculated using XCOM software over an extended energy range 0.015-15 MeV. The obtained mu/rho for the glass samples were compared to some commercial glasses, concrete, and heavy metal oxides. Based on the (mu/rho), another effective radiation shielding factors such as half value layer (HVL), effective atomic number (Z(eff)), and mean free path (MFP) were calculated. The shielding results showed that the HVL begin to increase and arranged in the order Yb0.0 > Yb0.1 > Yb0.5 > Yb1.0 > Yb3.0 > Yb5.0. Thus, the fabricated glasses can be used in different optical applications and as promising radiation shielding materials, especially Yb5.0, owns high mu/rho and Z(eff), low HVL and MFP.