Co-doped yttria borate glasses: investigation of physical, FTIR spectroscopy, optical and radiation interaction characteristics

Cobalt oxide (CoO) doped with yttria zinc borate sodium fluoride glasses with chemical formula 25NaF–10ZnO–0.6Y₂O₃–(65−y)B₂O₃– (y)CoO: 0 (Co-0.0 ≤ y ≤ 0.4 (Co-0.4) mol% have been produced using the melt quenching method. Role of CoO mol% on physical, FTIR spectroscopy, linear/nonlinear optical features, and interaction mechanism of charged/uncharged particles with such materials has been investigated. The density was enhanced from 2.9824 (g.cm⁻³) to 3.0014 (g.cm⁻³) as CoO increased from 0.0 to 0.4 mol%. The relative fraction (N4) of BO4 units of the investigated glasses showed that a gradual back transformation from bridging BO4 to non-bridging BO3 by cobalt increasing. The estimated values of indirect optical band gap (E_g) were 2.96 (±0.02), 2.79 (±0.02), 2.82 (±0.02), 3.12 (±0.02) and 3.18 (±0.02) eV for Co-0.0, Co-0.1, Co-0.2, Co-0.3, and Co-0.4 samples, respectively. Linear index of refraction (n_o) was changed from 2.41 to 2.36. The nonlinear susceptibility (χ⁽³⁾) and index of refraction (n₂) of the investigated glasses have a similar trend. The transmission factor (TF%) was increased as CoO content in the investigated glasses. The effective atomic number (Z_eff) possessed the following trend: (Z_eff)_γ > (Z_eff)_β > (Z_eff)_p > (Z_eff)_α.