Mass-spectrometric analysis of diffusion and solubility of helium in cerium-gadolinium ceramics with a submicrocrystalline structure

Diffusion and solubility of helium in Ce_0.8Gd_0.2O_{1.9 − δ} ceramics (δ = 0, 0.015) with a submicrocrystal structure are studied by thermodesorption of helium from preliminarily saturated (in the gas phase) crystals at temperatures of 613 and 673 K in the saturated pressure range 0–21 MPa. It is shown that, in this ceramics (δ = 0), the defect-trap diffusion mechanism operates. The main positions for dissolution are neutral anion vacancies formed as a result of thermal dissociation of impurity-vacancy complexes and saturated up to ∼1 × 10¹⁹ cm⁻³ at P = 6 MPa and T = 673 K. The dissociation energy of the complex and the energy of helium dissolution in the neutral anion vacancy are estimated at ∼2 eV and below −0.3 eV, respectively.