Low-temperature plasticity of dilute solid solutions of Ne in n-H2

Samples of strongly diluted solid solutions of Ne in n-H2 were tested under step-wise uniaxial extension at temperatures 1.8-4.2 K. A distinct plastification effect of neon impurities has been observed: to reach the same strain, lower loads were needed for crystals with higher neon contents at fixed temperature. The ultimate strength of neon-doped crystals was noticeably lower than in pure normal hydrogen samples. We also studied creep in the above-said solid solutions. The lowering of the strength of n-H2 can be due to a specific barrier overcoming mechanism for dislocations near impurities, which possibly form van der Waals complexes with the crystal environment