Luminescence of fluorine-doped and non-doped silica glass excited with an ArF laser

Abstract The role of fluorine doping on silica has been studied through comparison of the luminescence of fluorine doped and fluorine-free samples made by melting in on SiF4 atmosphere and excited by an ArF laser (6.4 eV) in the temperature range 10–290 K. The fluorine doped sample possesses a very weak absorption band at 7.6 eV on the level of 0.1 cm−1 and there the photoluminescence of so-called oxygen-deficient centers in the blue (2.7 eV) and UV bands (4.4 eV) could be excited. The same luminescence bands are observable in the fluorine-free sample, which contains an absorption band at 7.6 eV on the level of 20 cm−1. In the fluorine-doped sample the UV band prevails over the blue band. T…