Defects in TiO2 crystals produced by neutron irradiations at 20 K

The single crystals rutile (TiO2), cut parallel and perpendicular to the c-axis, are irradiated by reactor neutrons at 20 K (8.0x1016 n/cm2; E>0.1 MeV). By means of optical measurements an intense absorption band, which has a maximum peak near 1 μm (having FWHM similar 0.87 eV), is observed and is annealed out at about 220 K. Also, some kinds of defect centers can be distinguished by ESR measurements. The broad band has similar characteristics to that in reduced TiO2 crystal, in which the band has a maximum peak at 1.5 μm. With heavy reduction, the intensity of the broad band enhances with increasing electrical conductivity. It has been proposed that the origin of the band in reduced crystals may be attributable to the absorption of donors due to the polaron effects. The evidence for the assignment to the defect in the irradiated crystals is obtained by optical, ESR, and electrical resistivity measurements. The results lead to quite a different origin for the irradiation produced defect centers. ((orig.))