Positron Lifetimes in Pure and Doped Ice and in Water

Positron lifetime spectra were measured in mono- and polycrystalline light ice, polycrystalline heavy ice, doped light ice, as well as in light and heavy water. All spectra were resolved into three components. At temperatures between −196° and −100°C the lifetimes and relative intensities are virtually constant, being 0.12 nsec and 20%, 0.44 nsec and 28%, 0.68 nsec and 52%, and attributed to annihilation of para-Ps, free positrons, and ortho-Ps, respectively.

Above −100°C the longest lifetime increases with temperature to 1.1 nsec at 0°C. Its relative intensity is unchanged, while the parameters for the other components show a complex behavior. The spectra for mono- and polycrystalline light ice and for polycrystalline heavy ice are identical. For water long lifetime components attributed to ortho-Ps are 1.86 nsec, 27% for H2O and 2.01 nsec, 22% for D2O.

Theoretical explanations are suggested. Fast frozen solutions of HF with concentrations larger than approximately 10−5 mole fraction have a lifetime component at −160°C of 1.23 nsec, 52% attributed to trapping of ortho-Ps in amorphous regions. Very good agreement is found between the experiments and a trapping model.

Irreversible changes of the spectra are found by heating above approximately −120°C. Measurements on a number of fast frozen aqueous solutions of acids, bases, and salts are reported, none of them showing as strong influence on the ortho-Ps lifetime as HF. ©1972 The American Institute of Physics