Infra-red absorption due to localized modes of vibration of impurity complexes in ionic and semiconductor crystals

A brief account is given of the theory of the vibrations of an imperfect crystal containing isolated impurities and pairs of impurities, and the strength of the induced infra-red absorption is discussed. An analysis is then made, by the methods of group theory, of the energy levels and expected optical transitions of an anharmonic localized oscillator vibrating in a static potential well with various point symmetries. These results are compared with the available experimental data for pairs of impurities and more complicated impurity aggregates in ionic crystals with the fluorite and rocksalt structures, and also for similar defects in the covalent crystals silicon, germanium and some III–V compound materials.