Radiation centers in alkaline-earth hydroxides

The authors showed previously that the radiation stability of alkaline-earth oxides depends to a great extent on their content of impurity OH/sup -/ ions. There is virtually no information on the radiation stability of alkaline-earth hydroxides, which are secondary products in a number of radiation technology processes. In the present investigation they have studied by EPR and optical spectroscopy the nature, formation kinetics, and annealing of radiation-induced defects in ..gamma..-irradiated polycrystalline specimens of Mg and Ca hydroxides as functions of treatment temperature. In polycrystalline specimens of magnesium and calcium hydroxides ..gamma..-irradiated at 77/sup 0/K, O/sup -/ ion-radicals, surface F/sub s/ centers, and stabilized hydrogen atoms have been observed. Based on a study of the accumulation kinetics of the radiation defects it can be concluded that alkaline-earth hydroxides are unstable toward radiation.