Physicochemical Properties and Fiber-Drawing Ability of Tellurite Glasses in the TeO2-ZnO-Y2O3 Ternary System

Glasses in the TeO2-ZnO-Y2O3 (TZY) ternary system are examined in the present work. The vitrification domain of the chosen oxide matrix is determined and differential scanning calorimetry as well as X-ray diffraction measurements are carried out. The material characterizations reveal that Y2O3 incorporation cannot exceed 5 mol.% without causing detrimental crystallization within the glass. Optical transmission and refractive index investigations are conducted on compositions yielding fully amorphous samples. Next, the fiber drawing ability of selected yttrium-containing zinc-tellurite glasses is assessed and fiber-attenuation measurements in the mid-infrared are presented. Finally, a multimode step-index fiber is fabricated by combining a TZY cladding glass with a La2O3-based tellurite core glass. It is believed that yttrium-containing glasses could prove useful in association with other high glass transition temperature (>300 degrees C) TeO2-based materials for the design of robust optical fibers with precisely engineered refractive index profiles.

Automated summary

Glasses in the TeO2-ZnO-Y2O3 (TZY) ternary system were examined in this study. The vitrification domain of the chosen oxide matrix was determined and material characterizations were carried out. Optical transmission and refractive index investigations were conducted on compositions yielding fully amorphous samples. Additionally, a multimode step-index fiber was fabricated by combining a TZY cladding glass with a La2O3-based tellurite core glass.