Rare‐Gas Diffusion in Neutron‐Irradiated Rubidium Halides

Abstract

The release of radioactive Kr from neutron‐irradiated single crystals of Rb halides is measured at temperatures ranging from 150°C up to the melting point. The release behaviour is similar to earlier results on the K halides [1]. The activation energies for RbCl, RbBr, and RbI at higher temperatures are 0.56, 0.30, and 0.31 eV, respectively. It is assumed that Kr diffuses by an interstitial mechanism. At lower temperatures a stronger dependence is found, which is attributed to the interaction of the gas atoms with defects. The activation energies in this region are 2.04, 1.68, and 1.41 eV, respectively. RbF shows only a single activation energy of 1.38 eV. In RbI the simultaneous diffusion of Kr and Xe is investigated.