EPR INVESTIGATION OF ELECTRONIC EXCITATIONS IN RARE-GAS SOLIDS

The methods are described for producing unstable paramagnetic excited states in rare gas cryocrystals Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe through the trappin g, in the cryocrystals growing from the gas phase, the products of the gas discharge taking place in the same or other rare gas. The paper p resents a technique and results of an observation and investigation of excited states in rare gas cryocrystals with electron paramagnetic re sonance (EPR). The discovered unstable paramagnetic centers are interp reted as being local metastable excited np(5) (n + 1)s atomic-type sta tes in rare gas cryocrystals which are subject to the action of the an isotropic electric field resulted from the crystal surroundings distor ted by the center. An account is given of the mechanisms for formation of observed paramagnetic excited states in cryocrystals which arise o wing to the excitation energy of the metastable P-3(2) atoms of Ne, Ar , Kr, Xe and He 2(3)S(1) and 2(1)S(0) atoms that form in the discharge in an appropriate gas and trap in the growing cryocrystal. (C) 1998 A merican Institute of Physics. [S1063-777X(98)00110-8]