EPR STUDIES OF N, H, AND D ATOMS TRAPPED IN THE MATRIX OF SOLID MOLECULAR NITROGEN

The behavior of nitrogen, hydrogen, and deuterium atoms trapped from t he gaseous phase and matrix-isolated in solid molecular hydrogen are s tudied by the EPR method. It is established that all these atoms are l ocalized in the substitutional position of the matrix crystal lattice. The linewidths in the EPR spectrum of nitrogen are found to be one fo urth of the linewidths recorded by most authors. It is shown that a ve rsion of theoretical calculation gives a linewidth matching with the e xperimental value. It is proposed that two different types of matrix s urroundings are possible for a nitrogen atom trapped in the substituti onal position, one of which corresponding to the undistorted crystal l attice of N-2. The EPR line broadening under the action of zero-point atomic vibrations is observed for hydrogen and deuterium atoms. The ma gnitude and temperature dependence of the spin-lattice relaxation time for N, H, and D atoms in the solid N-2 matrix are obtained experiment ally. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S1063-777X(98)00901-3].