Abstract
Positrons which annihilate with electrons in solids usually give rise to two gamma rays, each with an energy close to 0.511 MeV, which are emitted in almost exactly opposite directions. The spread of the energies about the nominal value, which amounts to a few keV, is a Doppler effect reflecting the velocities along the direction of gamma emission of the electrons with which the positrons happen to annihilate. Thus the shape of the annihilation line gives a weighted measure of the electron momentum distrubution, emphasising the conduction electrons and the loosely bound localised electrons. The Positron Annihilation Techniques (PAT) allow this distribution to be determined nonโdestructively, and lend themselves to comparative measurements. If some of the positrons are trapped at negatively charged sites within a solid the annihilation radiation will reflect both the changed momentum distribution of the electrons seen at the trapping sites and the relative number of positrons which are trapped at the time of annihilation. To be effective the traps must have a mean spacing < 100 nm, but the sensitivity of PAT to atomic scale traps such as vacancies can nevertheless be very high. Finally, in materials containing few free electrons, information can be extracted from the formation of the positron analogue of the hydrogen atom, positronium.
With standard positron sources probing depths in plastics can be a few millimetres. The PAT techniques have already proved their worth in investigations of electron momentum distributions in ordered solids, and in investigations of phase changes and of mechanical and fatigue damage in metals and alloys. Their outโofโtheโway combination of characteristics makes them well worth consideration in other materials applications when conventional techniques run into difficulties.