Unvelling the elastic properties of samarium oxide zinc tellurite-based glasses: Judd-Ofelt intensity parameters through structural, experimental, and theoretical studies

The melt quenching technique was used to prepare zinc tellurite glasses with composition of [(TeO) (ZnO)] [SmO], where x is the molar fraction. The glasses were synthesized at various x values of 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04, and 0.05. Xray diffraction patterns depict the absence of distinct absorption peaks, indicating its amorphous nature. The shear and longitudinal velocities of the samples were measured using 5 MHz of frequency at room temperature. Physical properties such as density (ρ), and molar volume (V) increases from 5.142 to 5.324 g/cm and 27.412 to 27.590 cm/mol. Variations in ultrasonic velocity, elastic moduli, Debye temperature (θ), Softening temperature (T) and Poisson’s ratio (σ) were discussed and correlated with the composition of the glass samples. Additionally, elastic moduli and Poisson’s ratio were compared with the theoretically measured data using the four theoretical elastic models of Makishima and Mackenzie, Rocherulle, Bond compression and Ring Deformation models. The Judd-Offelt parameters (Ω, Ω and Ω) are obtained using Judd-Ofelt theory. To determine the possible applications of the synthesized glasses, the spectroscopic parameters were calculated for each band: radiative transition probabilities [A/A], branching ratio β, spectroscopic quality factor (Ω/Ω), gain bandwidth (Δλeff × σp) and the optical gain (σp × τ). The obtained higher values of gain bandwidth, optical gain, branching ratio, spectroscopic quality factor (1.550) and the radiative transition probabilities show that the glasses prepared are appropriate for laser applications.