It had previously been proposed that the extremely high rate of single diffusion jumps of O atoms during the electron irradiation of crystals at temperatures greater than 300C was due to the sequential trapping and de-trapping of vacancies. To support this assumption, it was demonstrated that thermal dissociation of up to 75% of the O-vacancy centers occurred. This was done by monitoring their destruction in irradiated and annealed crystals. An important new step was the calibration of the strength of the infra-red 830/cm absorption band via a novel procedure which gave the concentration of O-vacancy complexes in the crystals.

A.S.Oates, R.C.Newman: Applied Physics Letters, 1986, 49[5], 262-4