STUDY OF DEUTERIUM DIFFUSION IN AMORPHOUS ZR3RHD4.3 BY TA-181 SPIN RELAXATION

The diffusion of deuterium in amorphous Zr3RhD4.3 was studied by gamma -gamma Perturbed Angular Correlations (PAC) using Ta-181 as a quadrupo le probe in substitution for Zr. The temperature dependence of the spi n relaxation rate is well reproduced assuming a Gaussian distribution of activation energies with a relative width of approximately 20% arou nd a mean value E(a) = 0.14(2) eV. The results support the idea that d euterium diffuses mostly between face-shared 4 Zr tetrahedra. Such eas y diffusion paths could be interrupted by ''traps'', as suggested by c omparing our PAC data with NMR data on a-Zr3RhHx.