Effects of halogen doping on structure of silica glass as a photonic material

In silica glass frozen-in temperature of glass structure, so-called the fictive temperature, is strongly related to optical properties such as the Rayleigh scattering intensity and location of ultraviolet absorption edge. We investigated these optical properties with respect to the fictive temperature of samples with various fluorine concentrations. Furthermore, the structural relaxation during glass forming process was systematically examined. We have found that doping of fluorine strongly encourages the structural relaxation and lowers the fictive temperature. We have also found that relations between the fictive temperature and the optical properties vary sensitively to fluorine concentration.