Bound hydroxyl in vitreous silica

Abstract

A weak line at 969 cm⁻¹ (941 cm⁻¹) in the Raman spectrum of vitreous silica is shown to be due to the Si–O stretch vibration of OH (OD) groups. A triatomic molecular model for this defect accurately predicts the observed deuterated frequencies for both the Si–O and the O–D stretch vibrations bound to network silicon atoms.