Trapping of positrons at vacancies in magnesium

Trapping of positrons at vacancy-type defects in magnesium was studied by positron lifetime and Doppler-broadening measurements. Vacancy defects were produced by quenching, electron irradiation and deformation at low temperatures as well as by thermal agitation at elevated temperatures. In the first three cases we observed trapping at multiple vacancies, which anneal out between 77...400 K. Thermal equilibrium measurements show S-shape behaviour originating from positron trapping at magnesium monovacancies. However, changes in the positron parameters were very small, which is due to the weakness of the positron-vacancy interaction. A detrapping analysis yielded a positron-vacancy binding energy of the order of 0.3...0.4 eV.