THE OPTICAL ANISOTROPY OF A COLOR CENTER SPECIFIC TO GERMANIUM DOPED SYNTHETIC QUARTZ

Abstract

“The optical anisotropy of the color center system related to substitutional aluminum impurity in quartz has been investigated $recently,^{1,2}$ The color center intensity at 275 m$\mu$ produced by x-irradiation in two specimens of Bell synthetic quartz varies as the germanium content. It is absent in all other synthetic and natural quartz examined. The color center band is anistotropic with maximum absorption in the $\sigma$ direction (electric vector perpendicular to the c-axis). In the $\pi$ direction (electric vector parallel to the c-axis) the absorption is poorly resolved into two bands. The color center absorption is caused by an electric dipole transition and bleaches more rapidly than the other color center bands present in the specimens. A possible model for the center will be discussed.”