Radioactive ion beams and techniques for solid state research

Abstract

In this paper we review the most recent and new applications of solid state characterization techniques using radioactive ion beams. For such type of research, high yields of chemically clean ion beams of radioactive isotopes are needed which are provided by the on-line coupling of high resolution isotope separators to particle accelerators, such as the Isotope Separator On-line (ISOLDE) facility at CERN. These new experiments are performed by an increasing number of solid state groups. They combine nuclear spectroscopic techniques such as Mössbauer, Perturbed Angular Correlations (PAC) and Emission Channeling with the traditional non-radioactive techniques like Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) and Hall Effect measurements. Recently isotopes of elements, not available before, were successfully used in new PAC experiments, and the first Photoluminescence (PL) measurements, where the element transmutation plays the essential role on the PL peak identification, have been performed. The scope of applications of radioactive ion beams for research in solid state physics will be enlarged in the near future, with the installation at ISOLDE of a post-accelerator device providing radioactive beams with energies ranging from a few keV up to a few MeV.