Thermal and optical properties of TeO2-ZnO-BaO glasses

We report the results of a systematic study of the thermal and optical properties of a new family of tellurite glasses, TeO2-ZnO-BaO (TZBa), as a function of the barium oxide mole fraction and compare them with those of TeO2-ZnO-Na2O (TZN). The characteristic temperatures of this new glass family (glass transition, T-g, crystallization, T-x, and melting, T-m) increase significantly with BaO content and the glasses are more thermally stable (greater Delta T=T-x-T-g) than TZN glasses. Relative to these, Raman gain coefficient of the TZBa glasses also increases by approximately 40% as well as the Raman shift from -680 cm(-1) to -770 cm(-1). The latter shift is due to the modification of the glass with the creation of non-bridging oxygen ions in the glass network. Raman spectroscopy allows us to monitor the changes in the glass network resulting from the introduction of BaO. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.