Study of the physical and optical properties of Holmium Ion doped soda lime silicate glasses

Abstract

The aim of this present work is to investigate the physical and optical properties of Ho₂O₃ doped soda lime silicate glasses. Soda lime silicate (SLS) glasses with the compositions of (65-x)SiO₂ : 25Na₂O : 10CaO : xHo₂O₃ (where x = 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 mol%) were prepared by melt-quenching technique and characterized their properties by using density, refractive index and optical absorption. The obtained density (ρ), molar volume (V_M) and refractive index (n_D) were found to increase with increase in the concentration of Ho₂O₃ in the glass matrix. Such behavior was accredited to the differences between atomic weight and the atomic radii of the Si⁴⁺ and Ho³⁺ ions. The rare earth ion concentration (N) and ionic radius (r_p) were calculated. The absorption spectra of Ho³⁺ exhibit eight transitions from the ⁵I₈ ground state to the various excited states such as to ³H₆ (361 nm), ⁵G₄ (386 nm), ⁵G₅ (418 nm), ⁵G₆ (454 nm),  ⁵F₃ (487 nm), ⁵S₂ (⁵F₄ ) (537 nm), ⁵F₅ (640 nm) and ⁵I₆ (1151 nm) of the Ho³⁺ ions.