Experimental data on absorption and luminescence in optical fibres with a Bi : SiO2 glass core were compared to experimentally determined and calculated spectroscopic properties of the BiO molecule. The results suggest that the IR luminescence of Bi:SiO2 glass was due to interstitial BiO molecules. This assumption was supported by quantum-chemical simulation results for a BiO molecule in a ring interstice of the silica glass network.

Interstitial BiO Molecule as a Broadband IR Luminescence Centre in Bismuth-Doped Silica Glass. V.O.Sokolov, V.G.Plotnichenko, E.M.Dianov: Quantum Electronics, 2011, 41[12], 1080