Fabrication and assessment of structural, optical and ligand field relations of silicate glass activated by ions

Here, silicate glass system was prepared and investigated for different optical applications. We report structural and optical investigation of silicate glass via x-ray diffraction, energy dispersive x-ray, mass density, infrared spectra, optical spectra, ligand field environment and non-linear optical properties. Through this work, the lead oxide addition at the expense of silica content was prospected. After confirming the glass forming ability and quality and its chemical composition by X-ray diffraction and EDX, structural variations were witnessed such as highly increased mass density by 30% and enhanced bond density by 20% due to lead oxide addition. In addition, different structural groups are related to lead and silica ions were revealed to form the main backbone of current glass network. The highly dominant of lead ions functional groups are consistent with the increased density of glass. Optically, absorption bands of nickel ions support best performance of silicate glass in optical applications within visible and near infrared regions. Using these absorption bands of ions, the ligand field strength (10Dq) was found to increase from 7752 to 8065 , while the Racah B and C parameters were decreased from (716-617 ) and (2848-2478 ), respectively. These behaviours explain the decreased localization of d-electrons, owing to lead oxide addendum, offering a transition toward a more covalent character in the -ligand bonds. Observably, the lead addition to silicate glass causes a red shift of absorption edges to some nanometres, reflecting optical band gaps decreases from 3.54 to 2.83 eV and enhanced disorder degree (i.e., Urbach energy) from 0.20 to 0.27 eV. Overall, the overall optical non-linear properties of these silicates are enhanced, stemming from an observed enhancement in refractive indices. This work tailors good structural-optical relations that offer a decent silicate glass, with high quality and performance, for optical applications.