Intensification of physicochemical and nuclear processes in KD2PO4 crystals in the vicinity of the Curie point caused by an increase in the level of thermal neutron background

The influence of the level of thermal neutron background on the intensity o f emission of neutrons and spontaneous polarization of KD2PO4 crystals duri ng ferroelectric phase transition through the Curie point was studied. An i ncrease in the intensity of the external background of thermal neutrons inc ident on the crystal was shown to cause a substantial increase in neutron e mission accompanied by a change in depolarization current and an increase i n the rate of sample degradation. A semiempirical equation relating the yie ld of neutron emission to the external neutron background value was obtaine d; the equation satisfactorily described the experimental data. It was show n that emission of neutrons in nonequilibrium deuterated condensed media co uld only be observed in a limited range of thermal neutron background inten sities.