The Dose Rate Dependence of the Yield of Trapped Electrons in Crystalline Ice: An Evaluation of the Reaction Rates of the Mobile Electrons

The yield of localized excess electrons in crystalline H2O ice has been studied as a function of the dose rate at various temperatures in the range −10 to −40°C. The G value was found to decrease significantly with increasing dose rate. Thus it appears that the localization of electrons takes place in competition with other reactions and we propose a simple model where we assume that the mobile electrons can undergo bimolecular bulk reactions with protons and OH radicals. Rate constants of 3.0 × 1015 M−1 S−1 and 1.4 × 1014 M−1 S−1 for the two reactions were required in the model in order to account for the experimental dose rate dependence observed at −10° C. The reaction with the protons has a negative temperature coefficient while the reaction with the OH radicals has an activation energy of about 14 kcal mole−1. The mobility of the proton was estimated to be about 3 × 10−4 cm2 V−1 S−1 at −10°C.