Aiming to extend the scope of utilizing glass in radiation shielding, this work investigates the radiation interaction response of a borate-based glass system. Four borate-glass samples of different substituting concentrations of calcium oxide ( 70 - x )B2O3: 10 Na2O : 5 Al2O3 : 15 BaO: x CaO were prepared. To assess the shielding performance of the prepared glass samples, a high-purity germanium detector and different radioactive sources (different energies) were used. Via the narrow beam method, the linear attenuation coefficients (LACs) were experimentally measured. So, the transmission factor (TF), the half-value layer (HVL), the tenth value layer (TVL), the mean free path (MFP), and the radiation protection efficiency (RPE) were calculated for all prepared samples. It was observed that the increase of the concentration of calcium oxide in the proposed borate-based glass samples leads to improve their performance in shielding against radiation. At low energy, the RPE of the samples is almost 100%. However, it was observed that as energy of the radiation source increases, the shielding performance of the samples will decrease. High energy dependence was found when calculating TF, HVL, TVL, and MFP. They were increased with the increase of the energy of the incident photons. At 0.662 MeV, the TF values are equal to 79.26, 79.00, 79.72, and 78.43% for BNABC-1, BNABC-2, BNABC-3, and BNABC-4 in the same oder, respectively. The application of the proposed composition of borate-based glass as a transparent shield against low-energy ionizing radiation was highlighted.

Novel erbium(III) ion-doped borate-based glasses (Er3+ :BCNF) by conventional melt-quenching technique were designed and synthesized. The glasses were characterized for their structural, vibrational and spectroscopic properties. The nephelauxetic ratio, bonding parameters, and Judd-Ofelt (JO) intensity parameters (Ωλ λ = 2, 4 and 6) were determined by using absorption spectrum of 1 mol% Er2 O3 doped glass. These JO parameters were utilized to derive radiative properties for various excited states of erbium(III) ions. Emission cross-section for 4 I13/2  → 4 I15/2 transition of erbium(III) ions was computed through McCumber theory. The decay curves for (2 H11/2 , 4 S3/2 ) and 4 I13/2 levels were recorded and analysed. All the results of Er3+ :BCNF glasses revealed that the studied glasses are efficient and thermally stable and could be suitable for display devices, optical amplification and green laser applications.