Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2021) 136: 903
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-021-01906-x

Regular Article

Synthesis, optical, and radiation attenuation properties of CaF₂-TeO₂-Na₂B₄O₇-CuO glass system for advanced shielding applications

¹ Department of Physics, University College for Women, Osmania University, 500095, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
² Department of Physics, Osmania University, 500007, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
³ Department of Physics, Sakarya University, Sakarya, Turkey
⁴ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha, Saudi Arabia
⁵ Department of Physics, School of Physical Sciences, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria
⁶ Department of Physics, College of Science, Taif University, P.O.Box 11099, 21944, Taif, Saudi Arabia

^c mohammed.al-buriahi@ogr.sakarya.edu.tr

Received: 4 March 2021
Accepted: 26 August 2021
Published online: 2 September 2021

Abstract

We fabricated a new series of sodium tetraborate (Na₂B₄O₇) containing TeO₂, CaF₂, and CuO for advanced performance in optical and radiation applications. PHILIPS (Xpert PRO) X-ray diffractometer was employed at room temperature (RT) to investigate the fabricated specimens' amorphous nature. Furthermore, UV–visible spectra and EPR spectra (~9.7 GHz and field modulation 100 kHz) were also achieved for the involved glass system. Moreover, FLUKA Monte Carlo simulations were successfully designed to describe the gamma transmission properties through the fabricated glass specimens. The results reveal that the optical band gap (E_g) decreased from 3.079 to 2.605 eV as the CaF₂ content increased from 0 to 50 mol %. In the EPR spectra, fourth parallel hyperfine splittings in the high field are merged with the perpendicular hyperfine splitting's resulting in a single intense line. The gamma transmission studies show that the gamma absorption in the present glasses were highest at the least energy with the value of within the range: 0.0789–0.0229, 0.0789–0.0232, 0.0790–0.0236, 0.0790–0.0241, 0.0791–0.0246, and 0.0792–0.0253 cm²g⁻¹ for CaF₂ content of 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 mol %, respectively. It can be concluded that the present fabricated glass system has excellent and promising properties to use for optical and radiation applications.