LI. On the ‘Heating’ resulting from the absorption of gamma-rays at extremely low temperatures

Abstract

The various mechanisms for the conversion of absorbed γ-ray energy to heat are surveyed. It is shown that in dielectric crystals electronic excitation of the constituent molecular groups, followed by dissociation and recombination, and ionization followed by recombination, are to a large extent responsible for the energy dissipation. The partial inhibition, at low temperatures, of the final conversion to heat is discussed, with particular reference to the γ-ray heating method in low temperature calorimetry.