Optical and structural properties of lithium sodium borate glasses doped Dy3+ ions

•The optical properties of newly borate glasses doped with Dy3+ were reported.•Two emission bands at blue and green regions were observed.•Promising results were achieved from the physical parameters analysis.

Absorption and emission spectra of lithium sodium borate glass doped with different concentrations of Dy3+ have been reported. The concentration of Dy3+ was varied from 0.3 to 1.3 mol%. The amorphous nature of the prepared samples was confirmed by the X-ray Diffraction (XRD). Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR) spectra, and other significant physical properties (energy band gap, density, ion concentration, molar volume, Polaron radius and inter-nuclear distance) have been analyzed in the light of the different oxidation states of the co-dopant ions. The absorption spectrum showed nine peaks with hypersensitive transition corresponding to 6F11/2 + 6H9/2 at 1256 nm. As a result of 380 nm excitation wavelength, the luminescence spectra showed two characteristic bands at 479 nm and 587 nm. These absorption bands were attributed to 6P15/2 → 6H15/2 and 6P15/2 → 6H13/2 transitions of trivalent Dy3+ ions. The current study indicates that Dy doped lithium sodium borate glasses are attractive for solid-state laser applications.