Influence of the Doping Ion Nature and Content on Defect Creation Processes under the Effect of Ionizing Radiation in Aluminoborosilicate Glasses

Effects of ionizing irradiation on defect creation processes have been studied in rare earth (RE)-doped (RE = Sm, Gd, Eu, Ce, Nd) aluminoborosilicate glass with use of the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and optical spectroscopy. As a function of RE ion nature, we observe that doping significantly influences the nature of the defects produced during irradiation and more specifically the relative proportions between hole and electron defect centers. Strong decrease of defect production efficiency under ionizing radiation independence on both the RE doping content and on the relative stability of the RE different oxidation states is also clearly revealed. The results could be explained by dynamical reversible trapping of the electron-hole pairs produced during irradiation on the different RE charge states as well as by RE segregation and pre-existing defects speciation in ABS glass structure.