Impact of heavy metal oxide on nanosecond nonlinear optical, optical limiting and gamma radiation shielding attributes of borate glasses for laser and nuclear radiation protection applications

Concentrations of heavy metal oxide i.e. Sb2O3 varying from 10 to 40 mol% (in increments of 10 mol%) were loaded into a 20Na2O–80B2O3 transparent glass system to study the efficacy of Sb2O3 nonlinear optical (NLO) and gamma radiation shielding features of glasses. The NLO characteristics were ascertained by a Z-scan technique with 532 nm pumping in nanosecond laser pulse regime. The role of non-bridging oxygens, Sb3+, and Sb5+ ions in the enhancement of optical nonlinearities was examined. The two-photon absorption coefficient increased from 0.42 to 1.36 cm/GW with the increasing Sb2O3 substitution for B2O3, and the magnitude of optical limiting threshold followed an opposite behavior from 1.5 × 109 to 0.8 × 109 J/cm2. The linear attenuation coefficients (LACs) values at 0.4111 MeV increased from 0.215 cm−1 at 2.28 g/cm3 to 0.379 cm−1 at 3.98 g/cm3. The half-value layers (HVLs) were at a minimum when the energy was at its lowest and at a maximum when the energy was at its highest. The reported HVL trend indicates that the glasses must be as much as thicker to attenuate the same number of photons at higher energy. The NLO and radiation shielding features suggest that the high-Sb2O3 glass can be used to fabricate laser and nuclear radiation protection glasses.