Structure, spectra and thermal, mechanical, Faraday rotation properties of novel diamagnetic SeO2-PbO-Bi2O3-B2O3 glasses

Faraday rotation diamagnetic glass has attracted research attentions in photonics, sensing and magneto optical devices due to their high refractive index, wide transmittance in UV and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) range and temperature independent Faraday rotation. Selenite modified heavy metal oxides glasses with composition of xSeO2-(10-x) B2O3-45PbO-45Bi2O3 (x = 0, 1, 5 and 10mol%) and 15%SeO2-40%PbO-45%Bi2O3 have been fabricated by melt-quenching method in present study. The influence of SeO2 on glass forming ability, thermal, mechanical properties and Faraday rotation were evaluated through X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier transforms infrared spectra (FT-IR), Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Vicker's hardness and Verdet constant measurements. XRD spectra reveal that the good vitrification was achieved for glass with SeO2 amounts ≤10% even without B2O3. FT-IR, Raman and XPS spectra ascertain the existence of characteristic vibration of SeO4, SeO3, PbO4, BiO3 and BO3 units. The incorporation of SeO2 increases the connectivity of glassy network by increasing the Tg, thermal stability and mechanical hardness. The small band gap, high polarizable Se4+ ions and isolated SeO3 units contribute to Faraday rotation improvement.