Off-center substitutional ions in alkali-halide crystals

The potential wells of alkali and halogen ions as impurities in alkali halides are investigated by means of a deformation-dipole model with single-ion parameters. The calculations indicate that Li⁺ is off center in seven and F^? in six of the sixteen rocksalt-type crystals considered. In about half of the off-center systems the configuration has D_4h symmetry if the impurity is kept at its lattice position. The minimum-energy configuration of the off-center system KCl:Li⁺ is calculated in detail, and the influence of hydrostatic pressure is investigated. Our results are in qualitative agreement with experiment.