Optical properties and photosensitivity of vacuum synthesized Ge-doped sol-gel amorphous SiO/sub 2/

We report optical and electron paramagnetic resonance investigations of gamma ray irradiation effects in sol-gel Ge-doped amorphous SiO/sub 2/. The studied materials have Ge-doping levels up to 10/sup 4/ molar part per million and were densified by two routes differing for the atmosphere: O/sub 2/+N/sub 2/ or vacuum. The obtained results evidence that irradiation affects matrix sites inducing paramagnetic defects. Furthermore, the comparison between the two densification procedures shows that vacuum atmosphere induces higher radiation sensitivity.