Highpurity silica glasses prepared by various manufacturing methods were investigated after irradiation with an ArF excimer laser. Defect species and concentrations were found to be dependent on oxygen stoichiometry and impurities: E'' centers are induced in oxygendeficient high-OH silica at concentrations of 1O''6/cm3 while at one or two orders of lower concentrations in other types of samples. Defect centers in yirradiated silicas studied for comparison show a similar dependency on oxygen stoichiometry and impurities. In addition O ions are observed in oxygensurplus samples after yirradiation which were creates presumably by the trapping of free electrons. Isochronal annealing experiments indicate that the annealing of E'' centers in ArFlaser irradiated samples are due to the diffusion of 02 and H20. 1 .

Date Published: 1 October 1990
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 1327, Properties and Characteristics of Optical Glass II, (1 October 1990); doi: 10.1117/12.22520

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1327:
Properties and Characteristics of Optical Glass II
Alexander J. Marker III, Editor(s)