Properties and structure of Faraday rotating glasses for magneto optical current transducer

Abstract High heavy metal oxides (60–100 mol.%) ternary PbO–Bi 2 O 3 –B 2 O 3 (PBB) glasses were fabricated and characterized. Using a homemade single lightway DC magnetic setup, Verdet constants of PBB glasses were measured to be 0.0923–0.1664 min/G cm at 633 nm wavelengths. Glasses with substitution of PbO by Bi 2 O 3 were studied in terms of their Faraday effects. PbO–Bi 2 O 3 –B 2 O 3  = 50–40–10 mol.% exhibited good thermal stability, high Verdet constant (0.1503 min/G cm) and good figure of merit (0.071). Based on this glass, a magneto optical current sensor prototype was constructed and its sensitivity at different currents was evaluated to be 8.31 nW/A.