Positron annihilation spectroscopy in materials structure studies
V.I. Grafutin,
E.P. Prokop’ev
Russian Federation State Scientific Center ‘A.I. Alikhanov Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics’, ul. Bolshaya Cheremushkinskaya 25, Moscow, 117259, Russian Federation
A relatively new method of materials structure analysis — positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) — is reviewed. Measurements of positron lifetimes, the determination
of positron 3γ- and 2γ-annihilation probabilities, and an investigation of the effects of different external factors on the fundamental characteristics of annihilation constitute the basis for
this promising method. The ways in which the positron annihilation process operates in ionic crystals, semiconductors, metals
and some condensed matter systems are analyzed. The scope of
PAS is described and its prospects for the study of the electronic
and defect structures are discussed. The applications of positron
annihilation spectroscopy in radiation physics and chemistry of
various substances as well as in physics and chemistry of solutions are exemplified.
|