Study of physical and optical properties of holmium oxide doped glasses prepared using microwave technique

Abstract

This research aims to develop a process for preparing holmium oxide-doped glass using microwave techniques to identify conditions suitable for microwave melting. The glass composition is formulated with the following molar ratios: 10SiO2: (50-x)B2O3: 10Na2O: 30ZnO: xHo2O3, where x represents the concentration of holmium oxide (0.0, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mol%). The glass is then melted using a microwave furnace and analyzed for various properties, including density, refractive index, optical absorption, and color in the CIE L*a*b system. The density and refractive index tend to increase with higher concentrations of Ho2O3, while the molar volume tends to decrease inversely with the Ho2O3 concentration. Optical absorption in the wavelength range of 250–2,500 nanometers indicate absorption peaks within the wavelength range of 250–2,500 nanometers at approximately 289, 334, 362, 419, 452, 486, 539, 643, 901, 1,159 and 1,954 nanometers. These peaks are attributed to energy absorption transitions from the ground state 5I8 to the excited states 5G4, 5G5, 5G6, 5F2, 5F3, 5F4, 5F4(5S2), 5F5, 5I5, 5I6 and 5I7 respectively