Formation, thermal, optical and physical properties of GeS2–Ga2S3–AgCl novel chalcohalide glasses

Novel GeS2–Ga2S3–AgCl chalcohalide glasses had been prepared by melt-quenching technique, and the glass-forming region was determined by XRD, which indicated that the maximum of dissolvable AgCl was up to 65 mol%. Thermal and optical properties of the glasses were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Visible-IR transmission, which showed that most of GeS2–Ga2S3–AgCl glasses had strong glass-forming ability and broad region of transmission (about 0.45–12.5 lm). With the addition of AgCl, the glass transition temperature, Tg decreases distinctly, and the short-wavelength cut-off edge (kvis) of the glasses also shifts to the long wavelength gradually. However, the glass-forming ability of the glass has a complicated evolutional trend depended on the compositional change. In addition, the values of the Vickers microhardness, Hv, which decrease with the addition of AgCl, are high enough for the practical applications. These excellent properties of GeS2–Ga2S3–AgCl glasses make them potentially applied in the optoelectronic field, such as all-optical switch, etc.