Glass formation and properties of the TeO2-ZnO-BaO tellurite optical glasses

We report the thorough study on glass forming ability and properties of the TeO2-ZnO-BaO (TZB) optical glasses prepared by the melt-quenching method at 900 °C. The attention has been paid to investigation of thermal, structural, and optical properties of glasses with content of TeO2 from 52.5 up to 90%. The introduction of ZnO and/or BaO into TeO2-based glass results in increase of the glass transition temperature Tg from 319 to 369 °C and decrease of the refractive index and density of prepared glasses. The structure of studied TZB glasses was investigated by Raman scattering. Since the TZB glasses exhibit good thermal stability, wide spectral region of transparency from ultraviolet (UV), λ ≈ 0.35 μm, up to mid-infrared (MIR), λ ≈ 6 μm, wavelengths with high values of refractive index (n1550 ≈ 1.87–2.04), they may be utilized as optical materials, which can be designed on the results presented in this paper.