Optical Absorption of Excimer Laser?Induced Dichlorine Monoxide in Silica Glass and Excitation of Singlet Oxygen Luminescence by Energy Transfer from Chlorine Molecules

An optical absorption (OA) band of interstitial dichlorine monoxide molecules with peak at 4.7 eV and halfwidth 0.94 is identified in F2 laser - irradiated (photon energy=7.9 eV) synthetic silica glass bearing both O2 Cl2 molecules. Alongside intrinsic defects, this OA can contribute to solarization glasses produced from SiCl4. While the formation ClClO confirmed by its Raman signature, structural isomer ClOCl may also induced band. Thermal destruction between 300C 400C almost completely restores pre-irradiation concentration Cl2. additional weak 3.5 tentatively assigned ClO2 The strongly forbidden 1272nm infrared luminescence excited singlet was observed 3 eV-3.5 excitation, demonstrating an energy transfer process photoexcited triplet O2. most likely occurs located neighboring nanosized voids structure SiO2 network.