Effect of radiation on vitreous silica containing hydroxyl

The effects were studied of various types of radiation on the accumulation of nonbridging oxygen atoms and some features of their annealing in vitreous silica with impurity hydroxyl. An electron gun, a BSV-W x-ray tube, and a deuterium DDS-400 lamp were used as sources of radiation. The temperature was changed from 80 to 400 K during annealing and the decomposition and reduction of the hydroxyl were monitored for the change in the intensity of the red luminescence due to the nonbridging oxygen atoms. In glassy silicon dioxide at liquid-nitrogen temperature, the rate of accumulation of nonbridging oxygen atoms depended on the absorbed dose; in the initial stage it was constant. With an increase in the dose of ionizing radiation the rate of accumulation of centers decreased. Under vacuum ultraviolet radiation the charge state of the non-bridging oxygen atoms changed.