Indium dopant/defect complexes in lightly-doped ceria

摘要

Four well-defined indium-dopant/lattice-defect complexes and the non-complexed substitutional indium dopant have been observed by perturbed angular correlation (PAC) spectroscopy in cerium oxide. PAC is a nuclear hyperfine experimental method that detects interactions between a radioactive probe nucleus and nearby atoms. The magnitude and symmetry of those interactions provide a signature for the electromagnetic fields at the probe nucleus. These fields are produced by the arrangement of charges and magnetic moments in the near environment of the probe, so they provide a means of identifying defect structures.