Study on annihilation behavior of γ-ray induced defects in Li2O

Abstract The annihilation behavior of defects induced by γ-ray irradiation of Li2O was studied by ESR. It was observed that F+-centers and O−-centers have been formed in the γ-ray irradiated Li2O. Isochronal annealing showed that F+-centers and O−-centers began to annihilate in the temperature range of 350–400 K, indicating that these defects recombined with an activation energy of 0.30 ± 0.01 eV. Some of F+-centers were thought to aggregate in the temperature range between 350 and 400 K and decompose above 500 K. According to previous reports, the aggregation of F-centers and their decomposition correlate with conversion of the chemical states of tritium, suggesting that aggregation of F-centers could affect tritium release behavior.