Radiation effects in high purity synthetic quartz

Abstract

Radiation effects in synthetic and high purity synthetic quartz are examined in a research programme at the GEC Hirst Research Centre concerned with the growth of high purity synthetic quartz and the development of radiation hardened quartz devices.

Very high purity synthetic quartz with a low dislocation density has been successfully grown at the Hirst Research Centre. Substitutional aluminium impurity concentrations of 0.05 ppm and dislocation densities of <10 cm⁻² have been obtained. Electron spin resonance and infrared absorption studies have confirmed the low impurity levels and overall material quality.

Acoustic loss measurements on resonators fabricated from high purity quartz show that the usual Al-Na⁺ loss peak at 54 K is absent and radiation studies confirm the low substitutional aluminium content with radiation induced frequency offsets of less than 10⁻¹³ Hz/rad.