Gamma Irradiation-Induced Discoloration and Annealing Characteristics of K9 Glass

K9 glass is prone to developing color center defects under gamma irradiation, which exhibit strong absorption at specific laser wavelengths. However, most of these color centers exhibit an annealing phenomenon in natural environmental conditions, wherein their absorptive characteristics gradually diminish or even disappear. Hence, this study proposes employing a high-temperature accelerated annealing approach to address the color centers induced in K9 glass by gamma irradiation, aiming to attain stable absorption characteristics for specific wavelengths. Initially, experiments were conducted to generate color centers in K9 glass using gamma irradiation to investigate the influence of different irradiation doses on the optical absorption characteristics of K9 glass. Subsequently, the gamma-irradiated K9 glass was subjected to natural annealing at room temperature, wherein the unstable color centers exhibited a slow recovery process during annealing. Building upon this, high-temperature annealing was employed to expedite the recovery of unstable color centers in darkened K9 glass. Finally, a comprehensive analysis of the mechanisms behind gamma irradiation and high-temperature annealing in K9 glass was conducted using various material characterization techniques. The research findings hold significant importance for efficiently obtaining K9 glass with stable absorption at specific wavelengths, thereby further enhancing the optical performance of K9 glass in extreme environments.