Investigation of Sm2O3 effect on opto-electrical parameters and dielectric properties of some fluorophosphate glasses

This paper presents the study of different optical parameters of the glass matrix of [(45 - x) P2O5 - 10AlF(3) - 45 NaF + x Sm2O3] at different concentrations of Sm2O3. Linear and nonlinear parameters were deduced through this study. A gradual decrease in the penetration depth (S) was observed for the different glasses by increasing the Sm2O3 content. Also, increasing the Sm2O3 amount in the glasses reduces the ability of the visible light to transmit through them. The lowest value of visible solar transmittance (T-vis) was determined for glass matrix with the highest content of Sm2O3. The oscillator strength (f) is 86.7 (eV)(2) for the lowest content of Sm2O3 (0.05 mol%) which decreased to be 2.87(eV)(2) for the sample of (0.25 mol% of Sm2O3) then increased to be 7.36 (eV)(2) for the highest Sm2O3 content (1 mol%). The estimated values of volume energy loss function and surface energy loss function proved that the free charge carriers traveling through the different glasses lose their energies more than the case of traveling on their surfaces. The square of the refractive index (n(2)) is less than the high-frequency dielectric constant (epsilon(infinity)). Consequently, during the photon energy incidence on the samples, the polarization process is effectively influenced by the free charge carrier contribution. All the studied samples exhibit an insulating behavior as their values of covalency parameter (M ) are less than unity. Indeed, the effect of Sm2O3 content on the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility [chi((3))] is the same as detected for the deduced refractive index.

Automated summary

The study showed that increasing Sm2O3 content in the glass matrix leads to a gradual decrease in penetration depth and reduces the ability of visible light to transmit through the glasses. The lowest visible solar transmittance was observed for glass with the highest Sm2O3 content. The nonlinear optical susceptibility and refractive index of the glasses were influenced by the Sm2O3 content.