Positron mobility in perylene

Based on Doppler-shift measurements we have determined the positron drift velocity u in a high-purity monoclinic α-perylene single crystal as a function of applied electric field F and temperature. The electric field is applied as a triangular wave with a maximum field Fmax. At low fields the drift velocity displays a linear field dependence, while it assumes a sublinear field dependence above a characteristic velocity vs=50 km/s and finally tends to saturate at 110 km/s, presumably due to optical-phonon generation above a certain threshold kinetic energy. Unlike in the case of diamond, vs is much greater than the longitudinal sound velocity in the solid. By fitting the observed nonlinear electric-field dependence of u to a Shockley expression for acoustic deformation potential scattering of ''warm'' charge carriers we extract the zero-field limit of the positron mobility μ0 along the crystallographic c' axis (c'parallel axb). At 297 K μ0=(136±3±14) cm2 V-1 s-1, where the first error is statistical and the second is an estimated ±10% calibration uncertainty. Over the temperature range 100--350 K the mobility exhibits a Tn temperature dependence with n=-1.04±0.03, showing a clear departure from the T-3/2 dependence one might expect. Below 100 K μ0 still increases with decreasing temperature, but at a given temperature its value decreases as the maximum applied field Fmax increases, possibly indicating interference caused by the presence of a field-enhanced accumulation of trapped carriers that cause scattering at low temperatures