Synthesis and Magneto-Optical Performance of a Terbium-Based Hybrid Glass

Abstract

Rare-earth-doped glasses have attracted sustained interest for magneto-optical applications because they combine high transparency with appreciable Verdet constants. However, conventional inorganic magneto-optical glasses typically require melt processing above 1000 °C and often rely on high contents of costly heavy rare-earth components, both of which increase fabrication complexity and cost. In this work, a desolvation strategy was used to prepare a terbium-based hybrid glass at low temperature. The obtained Tb-based glass shows optical transmittance approaching 80%, a Verdet constant of -22 rad/(T·m) at 405 nm, and a glass-transition temperature near 42 °C. Although the relatively low Tg limits thermal durability, the combination of transparency, compositional homogeneity, and field-linear Faraday rotation demonstrates the potential of rare-earth hybrid glasses for compact photonic and sensing applications.