Optical and transport properties of thin sheets of CuO–PbO–B2O3 glasses

Different xCuO–(50−x)PbO–50B2O3 glasses were prepared. The optical transport properties of thin sheets were investigated. The optical density and the transmission showed a large band peaking at the wavelengtgh λ≈800 nm and a noticeable coloring corresponding to λ=500 nm. The high-frequency dielectric constant and the refractive index were calculated from the reflection using a computer program. The electrical measurements carried out showed semiconductor behavior of the conductivity as a function of temperature. The activation energies (Ea) for the conduction process indicated a thermally activated hopping mechanism. The calculated Ea values are typically 0.72–0.82 eV. They are higher than those calculated from the optical measurements (0.62–0.7 eV).