A theory was presented for radiation damage formation in alkali halides. This was based upon a new mechanism, for dislocation climb, which involved the production of VF centers (self-trapped hole next to a cation vacancy) via the absorption of H centers of dislocation lines. The evolution of extended defects, such as metal colloids, gas bubbles and vacancy voids, was considered. The voids were shown to nucleate, and grow, due to reactions between F and VF centers at the surface of halogen bubbles. Such voids could produce back-reactions between radiolytic products and lead to decomposition of the material.

A New Mechanism for Radiation Damage Processes in Alkali Halides. V.I.Dubinko, A.A.Turkin, D.I.Vainshtein, H.W.den Hartog: Journal of Applied Physics, 1999, 86[11], 5957-60