Pile-irradiation-induced photoluminescence in vitreous silica

Commercially available vitreous silica, Suprasil P-20 and GE-124, were irradiated in JRR-2 to the total fast neutron fluences of 2.6 X 1017 nvt. Ultraviolet optical absorption, photoluminescence (PL), PL excitation and infrared absorption were measured at room temperature. Three PL peaks at 4.3 eV, 2.7 eV and 2.2 eV were clearly observed for pile irradiated specimens excited by 254 nm (4.88 eV) light, in addition to the intrinsic PL. A 1.9 eV PL was observed in the time resolved PL experiment for pile-irradiated specimens excited by fourth harmonic Nd:YAG laser light of 5 mJ/cm2 pulse. Fourier transform infrared attenuated total reflection measurement showed no bond angle changes in Si-O-Si bridging angle.