Effect of Nd3+ ions on the structural, physical and emission properties of some As2O3.V2O5.CuO glasses

A set of Nd3+ doped vanadium arsenate glasses having formula 25%As2O3.70%V2O5. (5-x) %CuO.x%Nd2O3 (where x = 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2 mol%) are manufactured by the ordinary melt quenching technique. These glasses are investigated by several tools. Complete amorphous phase is confirmed for all samples. The calculated optical basicity decreases with the increase of Nd2O3 mole% in the glasses, while the molar refractive index follows an opposite trend. The metallization criterion calculation confirms the insulating nature of the samples, and such nature increases with increasing the Nd2O3 content. Tg, Tc and thermal stability of the glasses are found to increase with increasing the Nd2O3 content in the glasses. Continuous addition of the Nd3+ ions increases the thermal conductivity of the glasses from 0.11 to 0.178 W/m.oC. Emission spectra due to 365 nm excitation light demonstrates emission peaks around 506, 542, 580 and 635 nm from the samples.