Motion of a helium atom in a quartz crystal with dislocations

The motion of a helium atom through the quartz crystal structure disturbed by dislocations has been considered. Two cases of their action on the motion of the helium atom have been discussed. (1) Dislocations, in particular, screw dislocations, can be represented as contracted or extended helical (six-, four-, three-membered) channels consisting of SiO₄ tetrahedra. In this case, the helium atom moves inside the dislocation as in the crystallographic channel with changed parameters. (2) Dislocations can cross the crystallographic channel. This leads to an excess or a deficit of oxygen atoms of SiO₄ tetrahedra in the immediate environment of the helium atom located in the channel. In both cases, the displacement of the helium atom appears as a Frenkel-Kontorova soliton. However, in the latter case, the dependence of the activation energy of this soliton on the number of defects is discontinuous and exhibits a “mobility gap” of the helium atom.