Magneto optical properties of rare earth Tb2O3 doped PbO-Bi2O3-B2O3 glass

Terbium dioxide is intensively studied in luminescence and magneto optical applications. The fabrication and characterization of diamagnetic glass with composition of xTb(2)O(3) - 30PbO - 60Bi(2)O(3) - (10 - x) B2O3 (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.5 and 1 mol%) is reported. The influence of Tb2O3 on glass forming ability, glass structure and properties has been studied by means of DSC, XRD, Raman, UV-vis/FTIR spectral and Faraday rotation measurement by a home-made optical bench. Due to the high optical basicity and high polarization of host glass, the formation of Tb4+ in 0.1% Tb2O3 doped PBB glass contributes to an improvement on density, refractive index, thermal stability (106 degrees C), optical cutoff wavelength (501 nm) and Verdet constant (0.1301 min/G.cm).