Bleaching of hydrogen centers in solid xenon by thermally activated tunneling

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Abstract
The thermal bleaching of the characteristic UV-absorption bands in doped solid xenon has been studied. These bands are attributed to quasistable caged hydrogen atoms produced by photolysis of the dopant in the xenon lattice. Hydrogen atoms can recreate their parent molecules via thermally activated tunneling. A semiclassical description of this process is given considering the potential of hydrogen in a rigid cage. Its vibrational energy is equal to that determined spectroscopically and explains quantitatively the temperature dependence of the bleaching rate. Deviations from the experimental results for the deuterium atom give evidence for the influence of a dynamic lattice.