Study of thermal and optical properties of GeS2–Ga2S3–Ag2S chalcogenide glasses

Chalcogenide glasses in the GeS2–Ga2S3–Ag2S pseudo-ternary system were prepared by melt-quenching technique. The structural evolvement of the glasses was studied by Raman spectroscopy. The Raman results show that the addition of Ag2S involves the breaking of [S3Ge–GeS3] ethane-like units and the formation of Ag–S ionic bonds. The results of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) show that the glasses have relatively high-glass transition temperatures and good thermal stabilities. These GeS2–Ga2S3–Ag2S glasses have a wide range of transmission approximately from 0.50 to 12.5 μm. In addition, with the method of Maker fringe, SHG was observed in the 0.9GeS2–0.05Ga2S3–0.05Ag2S glass irradiated by an electron beam. The value of second-order nonlinear optical susceptibility d is as large as 6.6 pm/V, and the poling mechanism of electron beam irradiation was also discussed in this work.