Electric field effect on the luminescence of KI:T1

Thermoluminescence of KI: T1, X- or β-irradiated at T ?77°K shows two main peaks at 105°K and 170°K. They are respectively attributed to the recombination of mobile V_K centres with T1^O centres and to the recombination of thermally released electrons from T1^O centres with T1²⁺ centres. Similar experiments performed under static electric fields (E <40kV cm^-1) show that the intensity of the second glow peak is strongly reduced. The relative intensity variation is anticorrelated with the intensity of glow peaks occurring at T > 230 °K. We suggest that in the temperature range in which T1^O centres are thermally ionised, the effect of the electric field is to favour the retrapping of these electrons on other traps (still unknown). Irradiation doses also play an important role and their effects are studied at T = 77 °K and T = 200 °K.     

Calorimetric study of proton ordering in hexagonal ice catalyzed by hydrogen fluoride

Heat capacities of hexagonal ices doped with 2.6, 26 and 260 m mol dm^?3 HF were measured with an adiabatic calorimeter. The HF doping accelerated proton ordering which has been known to take place sluggishly around 100 K. The ice containing 26 m mol dm^?3 HF showed the largest excess entropy ((0.102±0.01) J K^?1 mol^?1) and the shortest relaxation time. The relaxation time at 90 K was about $\text{1}\text{30}$ of that of the pure ice I_h at the same temperature. The activation enthalpies obtained were the same for all of the doped ices, (23.5±2.0) J mol^?1, which is approximately equal to the activation energy of the mobility of the Bjerrum L-defect.     

Diffusion von Protonen (Tritonen) in reinen und dotierten Eis-Einkristallen

The diffusion of tritium in HF doped ice was studied as a function of HF concentration ranging from 10^?5 to 5·10^?3 mol/l. The magnitude of the coefficient of diffusion as well as the activation energy of diffusion were found to be independent of HF concentration within this range. At a temperature of ?10°C an anisotropy in the diffusion coefficientD was observed in undoped monocrystalline ice samples. In the direction perpendicular to thec-axis,D exceeded by 10% the value found in the parallel direction. An interpretation of these observations is based on a mechanism involving only vacancies.     

Dielectric relaxation in vanadium phosphate glasses

An asymmetric distribution of relaxation times has been inferred from an increase in the Cole-Cole distribution parameter α with increasing values of ωτ in 62% v₂O₅–38% P₂O₂ glass. The conventional Debye type relaxation loss peaks in the frequency range 10²–10⁵ Hz are observed in this sample above 85°K. The extrapolated values of dielectric constant and relaxation time below 100°K seem unexpectedly large while the high temperature extrapolated values of ?' are close to ?_∞ as expected. Probably the conventional dielectric loss peaks are observed only above a critical temperature at which the carriers gain sufficient energy to be excited to the conduction band edge. Below this temperature hopping of carriers within kT of the Fermi level may dominate and conventional Debye type dielectric loss peaks may lose their significance as envisaged in the models of frequency dependent ac conductivity.     

Dielectric relaxation in YTTRIA-doped Ceria solid solutions

The nature of the defects present in Y₂O₃-doped CeO₂ is explored by means of dielectric relaxation, employing primarily the thermally-stimulated depolarization current (TSDC) technique. For Y₂O₃ concentrations ? 1 mole %, two relaxation peaks are observed. The lower-temperature peak shows a dielectric relaxation rate, τ^?1 which is $\text{1}\text{2}$ the relaxation rate of the corresponding anelastic relaxation. This proves that the peak is due to nn, 〈111〉 oriented, (YV_O) pairs, where V_O represents the oxygen vacancy. These pairs are positively charged defects which are compensated by an equal number of isolated Ý. The upper peak is a broad peak whose position varies with Y₂O₃ concentration in the same manner as the activation enthalpy for the ionic conductivity. The peak is not due to simple dipoles, but to relaxation of the array of alternately charged (YV_O) and Ý defects by the redistribution of oxygen-ion vacancies. A simple model, in which these defects form a superlattice containing wrong pairs, explains the essential features of the upper peak.     

Thermoluminescence and electron spin resonance after room-temperature X-ray irradiation of NaCl:Mn2+

A parallel investigation of thermoluminescence (TL) and electron spin resonance (ESR) spectra on room-temperature (RT) X-irradiated NaCl:Mn²⁺ has been performed. The TL spectra in the range 20–300°C consist of five glow peaks, numbered from I to V. Temperatures at maximum height are 41°, 68°, 118°, 152° and 216°C, respectively. Peaks I, II and IV obey first-order kinetics, whereas peaks III and V fit second-order behavior. The wavelength spectrum for all glow peaks consists of two bands centered at 595 and 400 nm. The 595 nm emission is attributed to hole capture by Mn⁺ and subsequent deexcitation of Mn²⁺. The 400 nm emission is produced as a consequence of hole-F center recombination.The correlation of TL glow peaks to various defects has been investigated. Peak II is clearly related to manganese-vacancy dipoles and peak I can be roughly associated to free cation vacancies. Peak IV appears to relate to large Mn-aggregates, whereas peak V is intrinsic and not related to impurities.On the other hand, ESR data indicate that each glow peak in the 595 nm emission is associated to the annihilation of a given Mn-center; Peak I to Mn⁰C, peak II to Mn⁰C and Mn⁺, peak III to Mn⁺ and peaks IV and V to Mn⁰-D.     

Study of combined magnetic and electric hyperfine interactions for cadmium in Dysprosium by time differential perturbed angular correlations

The combined magnetic and electric hyperfine interaction at the site of a¹¹¹Cd impurity in magnetically ordered Dysprosium has been investigated as a function of temperature by time differential perturbed angular correlation measurements. Three different phases have been found in metallic Dy with transition temperatures of 85 and 179 °K in agreement with the results of bulk material measurements. In the paramagnetic phase above 179 °K a pure electric quadrupole interaction has been observed. The various contributions to the electric fieldgradient are analyzed and it is shown, that the dominant contribution comes from the conduction electrons. In the ferromagnetic phase which extends from 0 to 85 °K the magnetic hyperfine field at the site of¹¹¹Cd has the same temperature dependence as the spontaneous magnetization. The value of the hyperfine field at 4.2 °K is ¦H _eff¦=(221 ± 4) kG. At 85 °K a transition to the antiferromagnetic phase of Dy occurs, which shows a hysteresis of the transition temperature. In the antiferromagnetic phase the temperature dependence of the hyperfine field deviates considerably from the magnetization curve. It is suggested that this deviation might be due to a temperature dependence of thes-f exchange interaction.     

On the electric properties of ice doped with NH4F

Measurements of the dielectric constant and the electric conductivity of ice doped with about 10^?2N NH₄F led to an activation energy of the relaxation time of 0.10 eV=2.4 kcal/Mol. Despite the fact that the relaxation times of pure and doped ice are about the same at temperatures close to ?10°C, the statement ofDengel et al. [1], that NH₄F doping does not affect the dielectric relaxation, cannot be maintained in view of the large difference in activation energies.     

Lattice location of Co implanted in silicon

Thermal treatment of CaF₂ has a significant influence on the number and intensity of the peaks seen by thermo-luminescence. A combination of ion implants and anneal cycles leads to the conclusion that the 90°C glow peak is derived from a defect of a substitutional trivalent impurity (e.g. Ce⁺³) linked to an interstitial fluorine ion. Perturbations of this centre by other defects modify the centre and the glow peak temperature is raised to 110°C.

The peaks at 180, 220 and 350°C all involve intrinsic defect clusters.

The building of models for the different glow peaks was helped by a comparison of impurity and self ion implantations.     

Study of the paraelectric behavior of OH− ions in alkali halides with optical and caloric methods II.: Dynamics of the dipole alignment

The relaxation behavior of OH^? dipole centers in ten alkali halides was studied with electro-optical and electro-caloric methods as a function of applied field, temperature and host lattice system. The reorientation kinetics of the 〈100〉 oriented OH^? dipoles can be fitted successfully to a phonon-assisted (90°) orientational tunneling model. Below 5°K the observed time dependence of the optical dichroism and the T^?1 dependence of the relaxation time gives clear evidence for the predominance of one-phonon processes, while above 5°K the T^?4 dependence indicates multi-phonon processes. It could be demonstrated that in the one-phonon region of the dipole relaxation a population inversion among the dipole levels (with subsequent phonon emission) can be achieved after a fast reversal of the field polarity. An attempt is made to discuss the observed strong variation of the relaxation time (12 orders of magnitude) with the host lattice in terms of a tunneling matrix element renormalized due to the anisotropic lattice distortion around the defect.     

Spin-lattice relaxation in HF and NH3 doped ice and the outdiffusion of impurities

T₁ measurements have been done on pure, NH₃ doped and HF doped ice crystals. Three relaxation processes can be distinguished: a low temperature process, an extrinsic and an intrinsic process at high temperatures with activation energies of 0.08 eV, 0.35 eV and 0.62 eV respectively. Vested vacancies are proposed as defects effective in the low temperature process. The extrinsic high temperature process is due to vacancies which are formed by shifting a HF molecule to an interstitial site. Schottky defects are responsible for the intrinsic high temperature relaxation mechanism. Outdiffusion of HF is found to occur in concentration steps and at high concentrations by an interstitial mechanism.     

Kinetic analysis of high temperature secondary thermoluminescence glow peaks in α-Al2O3:C

The kinetic analysis of secondary glow peaks in carbon-doped aluminium oxide is reported. A glow curve measured at 0.4 °C s⁻¹ after beta irradiation to 3 Gy revealed at least five peaks as a result of various techniques of glow curve resolution; the dominant peak at 156 °C (peak II) and two weaker-intensity secondary peaks one at 36 °C (peak I) and the other at 264 °C (peak III). Peaks IIA and IV at 170 and 422 °C respectively only became apparent after removal of preceding more prominent peaks. The secondary peaks are particularly weak in intensity and are as usual dominated by the main dosimetry peak. The analysis in this report focusses on peak III, usually seen adjacent to the main dosimetry peak but whose presence is masked by the extreme sensitivity of the latter. Complementary analyses of the weaker intensity peaks I, IIA and IV are included. Peaks I, IIA and III are subject to first-order kinetics while for peaks II and IV the issue is less conclusive. The activation energy increases from 0.72 eV for peak I to about 1.3 eV for peak IV with values for peak II and IIA similar at ∼1 eV. In general, the frequency factor corresponding to the lower temperature peaks (I, II, and IIA) have values (10¹⁰–10¹² s⁻¹) that are an order of magnitude or so greater than for peaks III and IV (10⁹–10¹¹ s⁻¹). Except for peak I, peak II and all other secondary peaks are affected by thermal quenching whose activation energy was determined as ΔE = 0.95 ± 0.04 eV using peak IIA and as ΔE = 1.48 ± 0.10 eV using peak III. The overall conclusion is that all peaks correspond to electron traps and are associated with the same recombination centre.     

Effect of an ultralow-frequency electric field on the explosive instability threshold of ice

It is found that a weak (10³–10⁵ times lower than breakdown fields) ultralow-frequency (1<ω<1000 Hz) electric field has a strong effect on the explosive instability threshold of ice uniaxially compressed by high pressures in the temperature range 210–240 K. The explanation for the high electromechanical sensitivity of ice is based on the concept that ice undergoing structure modifications due to highly nonuniform compression is a heterogeneous system with cooperative phenomena in space-bounded sets of dipoles. The dipoles form around new-phase nuclei, defects, or air microbubbles and occupy domains with a typical size of 10⁻²–10⁻⁵ mm. When exposed to ultralow-frequency electric fields, such systems may exhibit resonant bursts of polarization, causing the ice stability to drastically drop because of dipole compression or microbreakdowns.     

Dielectric relaxation properties of tysonite-type solid solutions La1−xBaxF3−x

Dielectric relaxation properties of solid solutions La_1?xBa_xF_3?x (x ? 0105) have been studied by thermally stimulated depolanzation current (TSDC)- and a c. dielectric loss (DL) techniques.For x < 30 × 10^?3 the dielectric spectra show a relaxation peak which is ascribed to a simple associate of a substitutional dopant ion and a fluoride ion vacancy (Ba_LaV_F)^x in nearest-neighbour position, the vacancy being confined to the B sublattice For x values of about 1.3 × 10^?2 a relaxation peak appears which is tentatively attributed to a similar type of defect associate with the vacancy now confined to the A sublattice of the tysonite anion array One broad relaxation peak dominates the TSDC and DL spectra over the whole concentration range This peak is due to the relaxation of macroscopic space charge, i e ionic conductivity The low-temperature ion conductivity has been determined for several solid solutions, and extrapolates to the high-temperature conductivity determined previously with impedance spectroscopy Below liquid-nitrogen temperature three relaxations are observed, and ascribed to electronic transitions in cenum impurities. A computer programme has been developed to analyse TSDC relaxation peaks, taking dipole-dipole interactions into account Relaxation parameters and dipole concentrations are presented.     

Relaxation phenomena and nuclear magnetic resonance of116In(T 1/2=14s) produced by capture of polarized neutrons in the indium III–V compounds

Polarized¹¹⁶In nuclei have been produced by capture of polarized thermal neutrons in several In compounds. At temperaturesT below 77 °K and magnetic field strengthsH ₀ of several kOe, asymmetries of a few percent of the β^? decay of the¹¹⁶In ground state could be observed in polycrystalline InP, InAs and InSb, thus indicating the nuclear polarization. Nuclear magnetic resonance signals have been measured with the result for the magnetic moment μ _i (¹¹⁶In)=2.7723 (10) nm (uncorrected). β^? decay asymmetry and spin lattice relaxation timeT ₁ have been studied as a function ofH ₀ andT. The effect ofH ₀ is to decouple the hyperfine interaction caused by the capture-γ recoil process. However,H ₀ has no influence uponT ₁, which demonstrates the absence of nuclear relaxation due to paramagnetic impurities.T ₁ is determined by quadrupolar relaxation. A quadrupole momentQ(¹¹⁶In)=0.09 (2) b was calculated by comparison of the¹¹⁶In relaxation rates with those of the stable¹¹⁵In isotope in the same compounds. Above 30 °K the temperature dependence of 1/T ₁ agrees with a recent theoretical investigation. Below 30 °K the relaxation rate shows an anomalous behaviour, which can be explained by resonance modes due to recoil lattice defects.     

Anomalous shear ultrasonic attenuation peak at 95.5°K in holmium2

An anomalous attenuation peak at 95.5°K has been observed for shear ultrasonic waves transmitted along the c-axis of two holmium single crystals. The velocity change across this temperature is on the order of 10^?4. In the presence of an external magnetic field, the peak moves toward high temperatures for both H∥a and H∥c. A rotation of the field in the basal plane produces a two-fold symmetry pattern in the attenuation. A double peak structure centered at the c-plane has also been observed when the field is rotated away from the a-axis. A considerable fraction of the attenuation peak appears to go as sin² θ where θ is the angle between the shear wave polarization and the external field.     

Some detailed investigations of optically detected Ē(2 E) →4 A 2 cross relaxation in ruby

Cross relaxation betweenē(² E) and⁴ A ₂ states of Cr³⁺ in ruby at an applied external magnetic field ofH=5336 Oe was measured by monitoring the ¦? 1/2〉_ex→ ¦? 3/2〉_g optical transition in the temperature region of 1.6 to 4.2 °K. The chromium concentration varied from 2.9· 10^?4 to 4 · 10^?6 Cr³⁺/Al³⁺. With a concentration greater than 2 · 10^?5, the light intensity of the observed transition increases when cross relaxation takes place, while below this value it decreases. By measurement of the fluorescent intensity of one transition and simultaneously inducing EPR ground state transitions, we monitored the effect of trapping. Taking the value for trapping from fluorescence decay time measurements, we have used rate equations for calculating the actual change of excited state population when cross relaxation occurs. With this phenomenological model we are able to explain our experimental data. Finally some calculations for the effective spin temperature in theē(² E) state as a function of Cr³⁺ concentration as well as for various applied magnetic fields have been done.     

The electric field gradient at Ta in HfB2

Using the time-differential perturbed-angular correlation technique, we have observed the nuclear electric quadrupole interaction at ¹⁸¹Ta (482 keV) as an impurity in the refractory compound HfB₂. The measured interaction frequency is ν_Q=730±5 MHz which corresponds to an electric field gradient of |eq|=(1·19±0·05)×10¹⁸ V/cm² at room temperature. By considering a second measurement at 4·2°K, which yields the same results as above, and by comparison with available results for Hf in HfB₂, we conclude that the d-electron density of states at the Fermi level is quite small in agreement with trends observed by others.     

Anomalous magnetism and 209Bi nuclear spin relaxation in Bi4Ge3O12 crystals

The quadrupole ²⁰⁹Bi spin–spin and spin–lattice relaxation were studied within 4.2–300 K for pure and doped Bi₄Ge₃O₁₂ single crystals which exhibit, as was previously found, anomalous magnetic properties. The results revealed an unexpectedly strong influence of minor amounts of paramagnetic dopants (0.015–0.5 mol.%) on the relaxation processes. Various mechanisms (quadrupole, crystal electric field, electron spin fluctuations) govern the spin–lattice relaxation time T ₁ in pure and doped samples. Unlike T ₁, the spin–spin relaxation time T ₂ for pure and Nd-doped samples was weakly dependent on temperature within 4.2–300 K. Doping Bi₄Ge₃O₁₂ with paramagnetic atoms strongly elongated T ₂. The elongation, although not so strong, was also observed for pure and doped crystals under the influence of weak (～30 Oe) external magnetic fields. To confirm the conclusion about strong influence of crystal field effects on the temperature dependence of T ₁ in the temperature range 4.2–77 K, the magnetization vs. temperature and magnetic field was measured for Nd- and Gd-doped Bi₄Ge₃O₁₂ crystals using a SQUID magnetometer. The temperature behavior of magnetic susceptibility for the Nd-doped crystal was consistent with the presence of the crystal electric field effects. For the Gd-doped crystal, the Brillouin formula perfectly fitted the curve of magnetization vs. magnetic field, which pointed to the absence of the crystal electric field contribution into the spin–lattice relaxation process in this sample.     

Defect centres and thermoluminescence in SrS:Bi phosphor

Thermoluminescence (TL) and electron spin resonance studies have been carried out on SrS:Bi phosphor. The TL glow curve is broad and indicates a dominant peak at 120 ^°C with two additional peaks, not clearly resolved, appearing as shoulders at around 180 and 250 ^°C. Two defect centres are observed at room temperature. One of them is characterized by an isotropic g-value 2.0034 and is assigned to an F⁺ centre. Step annealing measurements indicate a possible association between the F⁺ centre and the three TL peaks.