Effects of pressure on radiation processes in solid hydrogen: An ESR study

Abstract

The effect of pressure on yields of H atoms produced by X-irradiation of solid hydrogen has been studied using electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy at around 4 K. The yields of H atoms have been found to decrease with an increase in pressure. We have concluded that the above finding is due to cage effects on the reaction producing H atoms, H2→2H, H3++e−→3H, and so on, which should occur during X-irradiation of H2 molecules in solid hydrogen. The pressure dependence of the yields of H atoms can be explained by a large compressibility of solid hydrogen. This also indicates that the compressibility is one of the important parameters in radiation-chemical processes in the solid phase.