Recoil tritium reaction in solid hydrogen at ultralow temperatures

Abstract

Reactions of recoil T atoms were studied in solid H 2 -D 2 mixtures at 4.2 K. The fraction of HT in the sum of HT and DT yields, [HT]/([HT]+[DT]), is roughly equal to the mole fraction of H 2 in the H 2 -D 2 mixtures. These yields were compared with the yields of H atoms produced by γ-radiolysis of the H 2 -D 2 mixtures at 4.2 K. From the comparison, it was concluded that formation of HT could not be due to combination of thermalized T atoms with hydrogen atoms from γ-radiolysis of solid hydrogen during reactor irradiation but must be due to hydrogen atom abstraction by recoil T atoms from H 2 and D 2