Fabrication of sintered silica glass and its vacuum ultraviolet transparency

Abstract

Transparent silica glasses were obtained by sintering a green compact in diverse atmospheres. The green compacts were fabricated by slip-casting methods for high-purity silica glass powder. The relationships between sintering atmosphere and sintering temperature that result in transparent, sintered silica glass were shown. It was found that the transparency-forming region of sintered silica glass corresponds to a sintering temperature above 1400°C and high-vacuum (10-4 Pa) atmosphere conditions. We investigate the fabrication of transparent and hydroxyl-free silica glass by a powder-sintered method. The sintered silica glass with 10 ppm OH content exhibited the highest transmittance at 157 nm (76% for 2 mm sample thickness). Refractive index dispersion curves in the wavelength region of 0.194 μm to 3.584 μm are presented for the sintered silica glass by minimum deviation method.