The lattice relaxation energy associated with self-trapping of a positive hole and an exciton in alkali halides

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Abstract
The authors have evaluated the upper and lower bounds to the lattice relaxation energy gained on the self-trapping of excitons, using experimental values of transition energies for free and self-trapped excitons and theoretical values for lattice relaxation energies and optical transition energies. The lattice relaxation energy upon self-trapping of an exciton in alkali halides proves to be appreciably larger than that of a self-trapped hole. They discuss the implications for a number of solid state processes including the production mechanism of F and H centres and the desorption of halogen atoms following valence electron excitation.