Optical and thermal properties of TeO2–B2O3–Gd2O3 glass systems

New glass samples with composition (1 – x)[(TeO2)70(B2O3)30] – x(Gd2O3) with x = 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 in mol% have been synthesized by conventional melt-quenching techniques. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies were performed in order to confirm the amorphous nature of the samples. The density of the samples has been found to vary with the Gd2O3 content, whereas an opposite trend has been observed in the molar volume. The analysis of Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy of the samples showed that the glass network is mainly built of TeO3, TeO4, BO3 and BO4 units. The addition of Gd2O3 changed the refractive index, optical band gap and Urbach energy of the glass samples. The thermal properties of the studied glasses were investigated by measuring the thermal diffusivity of the samples by using photoflash method at room temperature.