Magnetic behavior of erbium-zinc-borate glasses and glass ceramics

Abstract

Glasses of the system (Er2O3)x⋅(B2O3)(60−x)⋅(ZnO)40 (3 ≤ x ≤ 15 mol%) were prepared by conventional melt quenching and subsequently converted to glass ceramics by heat treatment of glass samples at 860 °C for 2 h. The magnetic behaviour of the studied glasses and glass ceramics were investigated using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and a Faraday-type magnetic balance. Magnetic data show that erbium ions are involved in negative superexchange interactions in all the investigated samples, being antiferromagnetically coupled. For all studied samples the experimental values obtained for the effective magnetic moments are lower than the value corresponding to free Er3+ ions and decrease with the increasing of Er2O3 content. The decrease is more pronounced in heat treated samples than untreated ones.