Influence of gamma radiation on the structural and optical properties of thulium-doped glass

A few selected numbers of researches has been done to study the effect of gamma radiation in structural and optical properties of Tm-doped glass. Hence, the present study is done in order to overcome this problem. Tm-doped glass sample with composition of {[(TeO2)0.7(B2O3)0.3]0.7[ZnO]0.3}0.99{Tm2O3}0.01 was prepared using melt-quenching technique. Density, FTIR, XRD and UV-VIS analyses were done before and after radiation with doses ranging from 10 until 35 kGy. With the increment of the radiation dose, the density and molar volume vary; indicating the variation in the compactness of the glass samples. FTIR analysis showed the changes in the absorption bands. The glasses still maintain its amorphous nature as confirmed by the XRD spectra. The direct and indirect optical band gaps showed a decreasing trend due to the breaking of bonds and existence of free electrons. Meanwhile, the other optical data have an increasing trend which was due to the presence of free electrons inside the glass system.