Time differential perturbed angular correlation studies of hafnium hydrides

The dependence of the electric field gradients (EFG) in Hafnium-Hydride systems as a function of the composition H/Hf in the cubic δ and tetragonal ε phases were investigated using the time-dependent perturbed angular correlation (TDPAC) technique, with¹⁸¹Ta as the nuclear probe. Two EFGs were found in the ε phase, indicating the existence of two major symmetries surrounding the Ta probe. The results indicate that the trend of the EFGs, in the ε phase, are due to the changes in the lattice parametersa _o,c _o as hydrogen is added to the Hf-H system. In the δ phase, only one major symmetry was found. Both phases are characterized by broad frequency distributions and large anisotropies.