Optical characterization of BK7 borosilicate glasses containing different amounts of CeO2

Borosilicate BK7 glasses doped with different amounts of CeO2 (0.5,1,1.5%) were prepared by the convenient melting process in this work. DTA analysis proved that 0.5-1% CeO2 has a network modifier role and then up to 1.5% it shows network former role.For structural studies, FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy were carried out. Fermi energy level, direct/ indirect optical band gap and Urbach energy were determined by using UV-VIS spectra and calculating absorption and extinction coefficients.