Thermal and optical properties of PbO-KF glasses

Abstract
Glass formation between PbO and KF is reported. The influence of composition on thermal stability, density, molar volume, refractive index, optical band gap, Urbach energy, and Pb 2+ emission spectra are presented. While KF influences thermal stability, the PbO content markedly influences the optical properties due to the formation of strong ‐Pb‐O‐Pb‐ covalent linkages. Increasing PbO content also results in phonon assisted nonradiative decay from 1 P 1 and 3 P 1 levels to 3 P 0 level leading to a marked decrease in the 1 P 1→1 S 0 emission.