Inhibition mechanism of OH/F doping on radiation-induced optical degradation of amorphous silica

Irradiation-induced formation of color centers in amorphous silica often deteriorates the optical performance of the material, thereby significantly affecting its long-term service performance. At present, the mechanism underlying the inhibition of color centers induced optical performance degradation by hydroxyl (OH) and fluorine (F) doping, and thus the improvement of its radiation resistance, is still unclear. In this work, we employed self-consistent quasi-particle G0W0 calculations combined with the Bethe-Salpeter equation (BSE) many-body theory to systematically investigate the inhibition mechanism of OH doping, F doping, and F+OH co-doping on the microstructure evolution and optical performance degradation by irradiation in amorphous silica at the atomic scale. The results reveal that OH doping, F doping, and F+OH co-doping can all mitigate the impact of irradiation defects on optical properties of amorphous silica. For different irradiation defect systems, due to the distinct regulation mechanisms of OH doping and F doping on the structure, their effects on the electronic density of states and optical absorption also differ. These findings reveal the inhibition mechanism of doping on irradiation-induced optical performance degradation in amorphous silica, which can provide theoretical guidance for optimizing the regulation ways of radiation-resistant material design and selecting proper doping schemes.