The effect of weak (0.25 to 5kV/m) electric fields upon the magnetoplastic effect in these halide crystals was investigated at 300 and 77K. It was shown that an electric field acted only on edge (charged) dislocations, and did not affect the mobility of screw dislocations. An electric field that was oriented parallel to the dislocations, or perpendicular to their glide plane, also did not affect the mobility of edge dislocations. It was found that, in a magnetic field, the critical rotation frequency of the samples (which was a measure of the inverse de-pinning time of dislocations from paramagnetic centers in a magnetic field) was insensitive to electrical influences. The results which were obtained therefore indicated that the electrical effect on dislocations was of force type, while an electric field had no effect upon elementary dislocation de-pinning from paramagnetic centers. An approximately 2 orders of magnitude decrease in the threshold sensitivity of the dislocation mobility, due to electrical effects in a magnetic field, was attributed to the relatively low density of magnetically insensitive barriers; which were overcome with the aid of external forces in experimentally studied crystals.

V.I.Alshitz, E.V.Darinskaya, E.J.Mikhina, E.A.Petrzhik: Fizika Tverdogo Tela, 1996, 38[8], 2426-30 (Physics of the Solid State, 1996, 38[8], 1333-5)