Investigation of the anomalous temperature dependence of the self-diffusion constant of hydrogen in niobium by quasielastic neutron scattering

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Abstract
The diffusion constant of hydrogen in niobium was investigated by quasielastic neutron scattering in the temperature region 65 to 300K. By macroscopic methods, a transition from a high-temperature activation energy of 106 MeV to a low-temperature activation energy of 68 MeV was observed in this region. The value of the low-temperature activation energy was confirmed by the neutron scattering experiments. The possibility that the activation energy at low temperature is related to thermally activated tunnelling processes is discussed.