Preparation and Faraday Rotation of Divalent Europium Glasses

Abstract

A large glass‐forming region was discovered in the system EUO–Al2O3–B2O3 and chemically stable glasses of good optical quality were produced. The concentration range extends from about 3 to 43 mole % EuO. Room‐temperature Verdet constants as large as –2.55 min/oe‐cm were measured on a glass containing 30.5 mole % Eu2+. This is somewhat higher than those reported for the trivalent rare‐earth ions in similar glass matrices. The effective transition wavelength causing the rotation is 380 ± 20 mμ. Compared to Ce3+, Tb3+, and Pr3+ the large rotation of Eu2+ in the visible region is due primarily to a large J (total angular momentum) value as well as to a large effective transition wavelength. Copyright © 1966, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved