A DEFECT MODEL FOR THE OPTICAL AND EPR ACTIVITY OF THE T-CENTER IN YTTRIUM-STABILIZED ZIRCONIA

Direct quantitative correlations have been recently observed between t he T-centre EPR signal and an optical absorption band at 370 nm, in X- irradiated YSZ, suggesting that the colour centre and the paramagnetic centre might be the same entity. In order to confirm this hypothesis, theoretical modeling was undertaken, where by appropriate refinement the known electronic structure of the T-centre is shown to be compatib le with an optical transition, having an oscillator strength of the co rrect magnitude.