silicon dioxide plays a central role in most contemporary electronic and photonic technologies, from fiber optics for communications and medical applications to metal-oxide-semiconductor devices. many of these applications directly involve point defects, which can either be introduced during the manufacturing process or by exposure to ionizing radiation. they can also be deliberately created to exploit new technologies. this book provides a general description of the influence that point defects have on the global properties of the bulk material and their spectroscopic characterization through esr and optical spectroscopy.