Defects in quartz related to interstitial Li and Na ions as revealed by luminescence

Quartz usually contains Al impurities substituted for Si in the lattice. Monovalent ions, e.g. Li⁺ and Na⁺, provide then the charge compensation at the Al. These monovalent ions (M ⁺) have been found to affect considerably the thermoluminescence (TL) of quartz, effects involving migration of M⁺ ions along the c-axis channels in quartz. Thus, the glow curve of Li containing quartz subjected to certain double irradiation procedures involving migration of Li ions away from the Al was shown in the past to exhibit a very strong TL peak near 190K. Radiation induced drift of M⁺ ions in quartz has also been known to produce acoustic losses and frequency offsets in quartz resonators. The TL peaks related with the migration of the M⁺ ions give an insight into the radiation induced drift of the interstitials in quartz. It provides thus a good tool for the investigation of the related Q^-1 losses and frequency offsets in quartz resonators. The present paper reviews some earlier results on the M⁺ related defects in quartz and describes results of still unpublished work on the topic