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Theory of the Excitonic Mechanism of Crystal Defect Formation
Author(s) -
Anselm A. I.,
Lang I. G.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.2220800234
Subject(s) - exciton , polaron , annihilation , biexciton , lattice (music) , condensed matter physics , alkali metal , halide , chemistry , materials science , chemical physics , physics , quantum mechanics , electron , inorganic chemistry , acoustics
To look into the factors responsible for a large efficiency of defect formation in alkali halides, an excitonic mechanism with an exciton localized at a single lattice site is discussed. The exciton contains a hole forming a small polaron. The nonradiative annihilation of the exciton necessary for defect formation is shown to be improbable due to the fact that the polaron displacements of atoms are small. The large efficiency of the excitonic mechanism is due to the localization of the hole forming the exciton at two lattice sites, since such a localization gives rise to large equilibrium displacements of atoms (of the order of an interatomic spacing).