Physicochemical Properties and Fiber-Drawing Ability of Tellurite Glasses in the TeO(2)-ZnO-Y(2)O(3) Ternary System

Glasses in the TeO(2)-ZnO-Y(2)O(3) (TZY) ternary system are examined in the present work. The vitrification domain of the chosen oxide matrix is determined and differential scanning calorimetry as well as X-ray diffraction measurements are carried out. The material characterizations reveal that Y(2)O(3) incorporation cannot exceed 5 mol.% without causing detrimental crystallization within the glass. Optical transmission and refractive index investigations are conducted on compositions yielding fully amorphous samples. Next, the fiber drawing ability of selected yttrium-containing zinc-tellurite glasses is assessed and fiber-attenuation measurements in the mid-infrared are presented. Finally, a multimode step-index fiber is fabricated by combining a TZY cladding glass with a La(2)O(3)-based tellurite core glass. It is believed that yttrium-containing glasses could prove useful in association with other high glass transition temperature (>300 °C) TeO(2)-based materials for the design of robust optical fibers with precisely engineered refractive index profiles.