Radiation-damage-induced defects in quartz. I. Single-crystal W-band EPR study of hole centers in an electron-irradiated quartz

Abstract

Single-crystal W-band electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra of an electron-irradiated quartz, measured at room temperature, 110 and 77 K, disclose three previously reported hole centers (#1, G and an ozonide radical). The W-band EPR spectra of these three centers clearly resolve six magnetically nonequivalent sites each, whereas previous X- and Q-band EPR studies reported Centers #1 and the ozonide radical to consist of only three symmetry-related components and interpreted them to reside on twofold symmetry axes in the quartz structure. The calculated g matrices of Center #1 and the ozonide radical show that deviations from twofold symmetry axes are <10°, which are probably attributable to distortion related to neighboring charge compensating ions. The W-band EPR spectra of Center G not only result in improved g matrices but also allow quantitative determination of the nuclear hyperfine (A) and quadrupole (P) matrices of its 27Al hyperfine structure that was incompletely resolved before. In particular, the g-maximum and g-minimum principal axes of Center G are approximately along two pairs of O–O edges of the SiO4 tetrahedron, while the unique A principal axis is approximately along a Si–Si direction. These new spin-Hamiltonian parameters suggest that Center G most likely involves trapping of a hole between two oxygen atoms related to a silicon vacancy and stabilized by an Al3+ ion in the neighboring tetrahedron (hence an O2n−–Al3+ defect, where n is either 1 or 3).