“…The absorption band at 300 nm is assigned to the F 2 centers, i.e., the oxygen divacancies with four electrons, whereas the band at 355 nm is attributed to the centers, i.e., the oxygen divacan cies with three electrons. Examples available in the lit erature on the identification of the F 2 and centers from the spectra of their optical absorption and lumi nescence excitation are presented for α Al 2 O 3 samples in which anion defects have been produced by irradia tion with corpuscular emissions, neutrons, protons, electrons, and accelerated ions of different chemical elements [15][16][17][18]. In contrast to radiation induced defects, the defects in the oxygen sublattice of the α Al 2 O 3 samples studied in our work were produced dur ing the growth of crystals under reducing conditions.…”