The changes which were produced by the irradiation of vitreous samples were studied. A 10 to 25% increase in the micro-hardness, and a shift of the absorption edge to long wavelengths, was attributed to defect formation and impurity radiolysis. The former was related to destruction-polymerization transformations of the main structural matrix fragments and, in particular, to the transformations of one chemical bond into another. The normal coordination of atoms was violated, and the oppositely charged D+ and D- defects appeared.

O.I.Shpotyuk, A.O.Matkovsky, A.P.Kovalsky, M.M.Vakiv: Radiation Effects and Defects in Solids, 1995, 133[1], 1-4