Carbon nanotube doped tellurite glasses

In the past it was observed that buck ball doped glasses showed enhanced optical nonlinearities. However, carbon nanotubes are much more stable than buck ball and should be a better choice for that purpose. Therefore we decided to investigate the possibility to produce carbon nanotubes doped tellurite glasses and measured their optical nonlinearities. Tellurite glasses already have a larger nonlinearity compared to silica, and other, glasses. We produced TeO ₂-ZnO tellurite family glasses doped with multi wall Carbon Nanotube (CNT). The CNTs acquired from Carbolex were vigorously mechanically mixed with the tellurite glass precursors and melted in platinum crucible around 650°C in a controlled atmosphere inside an electrical induction furnace. We used the lowest temperature possible and controlled atmosphere to avoid the CNT oxidation. The glass melt was cast in a stainless steel and thermally treated at 300°C for 5 hours to relieve internal stresses. The samples were than cutted and polished to perform the optical characterization. We measured refractive index and thermo physical properties, such as vitreous transition T_g, crystallization onset T_x and melting T_f temperatures. Raman spectroscopy showed the possible presence of CNTs.