Structural and optical studies of Sm3+-doped silica glass along with TiO2 nanoparticles for photonic applications

•Sm3+ ions-doped with TiO2–SiO2 glass is prepared by in-situ sol-gel methods.•XRD and TEM analysis show that the samples contain TiO2 nanoparticles of size approximately 10 nm.•PL spectra is observed with varying samarium concentrations at different annealing temperature. CIE Chromaticity diagram is also recorded to observed color tunability.•Various physical parameters like density, refractive index and non-linear polarizability are measured to investigate possible device applications of the samples.