Compositional effect on structural and spectroscopic properties of P2O5–SnO–MnO ternary glass system

Glasses with a P2O5–SnO–MnO ternary system were synthesized and characterized. Glass forming range was determined to be 5–20 mol% of MnO when the content of SnO was kept below 50 mol%. Various analyses including thermal, optical and structural characterization were performed on (85 − x)P2O5–xSnO–15MnO (x = 30, 35, 40 and 45 in mol%) and (55 − y)P2O5–45SnO–yMnO (y = 0, 5, 10 and 15 in mol%) glasses in order to investigate the compositional effect of SnO and MnO on the properties of glass. Glass transition temperature of all the prepared glass samples turned out to be below 350 °C, but showed a compositional dependency on SnO and MnO, which was discussed in terms of the structural changes derived from Raman spectroscopy. The visible transparency of both glass series was identified with their high optical bandgap of 3.4–3.7 eV and their refractive indices varied between 1.6 and 1.9 depending on the wavelength monitored and composition. Er3+ doped the glasses to examine their potential as a photonic gain medium. Radiative emission properties, Judd–Ofelt analysis and stimulated emission cross-sections also exhibited the influence of SnO and MnO and suggested the preferred concentrations of SnO and MnO as 35 mol% and 5 mol%, respectively. Modification of the local structure around the Er3+-ion upon the compositional variation was responsible for the phenomena. This is also discussed with the structural contribution of SnO and MnO.