Study of vibrational spectroscopy, linear and non-linear optical properties of Sm3+ ions doped BaO–ZnO–B2O3 glasses

• Transformation of BO4 to BO3 structural units with the increase in Sm2O3 concentration.
• Optical energy band gap decreases with the increase in Sm2O3 content.
• The prepared glass samples are observed to exhibit two-photon absorption.
• Nonlinear optical susceptibility increases with increase in Sm2O3 concentration.

Samarium oxide doped Barium–Zinc–Borate glasses with compositions xSm2O3−(100−x)[0.1BaO–0.4ZnO−0.5B2O3]; x = 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 have been prepared by melt quench technique. The amorphous nature of as-prepared glasses has been ascertained by X-ray diffraction patterns. The observed values of density and molar volume of the glass samples are found to increase with the increase in concentration of Sm2O3. Fourier Transform Infrared spectra of the prepared glasses indicate that Sm2O3 acts as glass modifier. With the increase in Sm2O3 content, BO4 structural units start converting into BO3 structural units. The values of optical energy band gap (Eg), estimated from Tauc's plots, are observed to decrease with the increase in Sm2O3 content. The nonlinear optical properties of glass samples have been investigated by Z-scan method with nanosecond pulsed laser at ∼532 nm in both open and close aperture geometries. The values of two photon absorption coefficient (β) and nonlinear refractive index (n2) have been estimated by fitting of experimentally observed data with theoretical models and both are found to increase with the increase in Sm3+ ions concentration in the glass matrix. The total third order nonlinear susceptibility (χ(3)) have been calculated and observed to increase with the increase in Sm3+ ions concentration.

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