The process of colloidal centre formation in alkali halide crystals during irradiation

In this paper are analysed the processes of electronic centre aggregation to colloidal alkali metal particles in alkali halide crystals under radiation. It is shown that the existing theories of particle coalescence do not describe the experimentally observed kinetics of radiolysis. A new model of radiation colloid formation in these systems is proposed in which the interaction between colloidal centres is taken into account. In the present model the experimentally observed dose and temperature dependences, as well as the size distribution of the electron products of radiolysis, are explained. (author)