Eur. Phys. J. B 20, 235-240

Structural and magnetic studies of CuO-TeO and CuO-TeO -B O glasses

F. Ciorcas^{1, 2}, S.K. Mendiratta¹, I. Ardelean² and M.A. Valente<sup>1

1</sup>  Physics Department, University of Aveiro, 3810 Aveiro, Portugal
²  Faculty of Physics, Babes-Bolyai University, 3400 Cluj-Napoca, Romania

skm@fis.ua.pt

(Received 23 October 2000 and Received in final form 1st February 2001)

Abstract
The glass systems xCuO(1-x)TeO₂ and xCuO(1-x)[ 75TeO₂ 25B₂O₃] with mol% were investigated by means of X-ray diffraction, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and a.c. magnetic susceptibility ( ) measurements, the principal aim of the investigation being the study of the structural modifications in the tellurite glasses introduced by the addition of boron oxide. In the case of first glass system, i.e. without B₂O₃, EPR spectra of Cu²⁺ ions undergo changes with the increasing concentration of CuO. At very low concentrations, spectra are due to isolated Cu²⁺ ions in axially distorted octahedral sites. The EPR signal for samples with mol% can be explained as being the superposition of two EPR absorptions, one showing the hyperfine structure typical for isolated Cu²⁺ ions and the other consisting of a symmetric line typical for clustered ions. The broadening of the absorption band is due to dipolar as well exchange interaction. The susceptibility data show that for x > 20 mol% , the Cu²⁺ ions are predominantly clustered and are coupled through antiferromagnetic exchange interaction. A comparative study of amorphous X-ray diffraction pattern of the glasses indicates a structural modification in the TeO₂ network with increasing CuO concentration; the effect is quite visible in the samples with CuO concentrations higher than 20 mole percent. Measurements of density corroborate the conclusions drawn from the X-ray diffraction. Additionally, we show that our data validates a model in which CuO rich regions are surrounded by a buffer boundary which separates them from the tellurite glassy network; effect of introducing B₂O₃ can be best described as breaking these regions into smaller size regions.

PACS
61.43.Fs - Glasses.
76.30.Fc - Iron group (3d) ions and impurities (Ti-Cu).


© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2001