Microscopic investigation of the creation and destruction of color centers in alkali-halide crystals

A new microscopic method for the study of color-center creation in alkali-halide single crystals is proposed. The creation and destruction of F- and M-color centers in NaCl single crystals and also in threadlike NaCl crystals have been studied on topographically different microareas of the samples.The authors are deeply indebted to Dr. Ch. B. Lushchik, M.A. Elango, and K. I. Gindina for valuable discussions of the problems encountered and also for providing a number of crystals for the investigation.