Time dependence of silica optical properties during the implantation of fast hydrogen ions: Theory

Formation, excitation and passivation of defects by absorbed hydrogen have been extensively reported in the literature. Here we present a basic luminescence-diffusion model to simulate creation and chemical annealing behavior of non-bridging oxygen hole centers in silica by their treatment under a long-time hydrogen implantation. The model is in a good agreement with experimental data and explains the uncommon nonmonotonic time dependence of the non-bridging oxygen hole centers luminescence during the hydrogen implantation. The proposed model establishes the quantitative relation between the intensity dependence of luminescence on its intrinsic diffusivity, hydrogen concentration, defect concentration and cross-section of their creation. Possibilities to estimate these parameters based on the experimental data for the efficiency of silica luminescence are also discussed.