Radiation Coloration and Bleaching of Glass

The results of an investigation of the bleaching of radiation-induced darkening in ten Schott optical glasses is presented. Measurements were made at several temperatures from 160K to 340K for times from 5 msec to 500 hours after exposure. The theory of processes distributed in activation energies has been used to formulate a model which explains the time and temperature dependence of the bleaching. Analysis of the bleaching results in terms of this model has yielded the activation energy distributions and "frequency factors" which govern the bleaching for each material.