PHYSICAL REVIEW B

Radioluminescence, cathodoluminescence, and thermoluminescence of Zr-Ba-La-Al-Na (ZBLAN) fluoride glass reveal different aspects of the intrinsic imperfections and impurities which control the emission. Except for weak low-temperature thermoluminescence signals which could be attributed to rare-earth impurities, the majority of the emission bands were common to all samples. These are considered to arise from intrinsic electron-hole recombination processes, either during relaxed exciton emission or at intrinsic defect sites in the glass network. Deconvolution of the spectra indicates that six emission bands occur in all the samples. Production of crystallite inclusions or intrinsic defects enhance the signal intensities. The luminescence is shown to be a useful probe of the quality of the ZBLAN glass, both in the preform stage, and after fiber drawing, even when working with the very high grade material produced by gas film levitation growth