<title>Hardening in LiF, induced by fast Kr and Ni ions, and recovery of the structure and properties under annealing</title>

The recovery of optical and mechanical properties of LiF crystals irradiated with 790 MeV 78Kr and 640 MeV 58Ni ions at 10l2 ions/cm2 under annealing at temperatures up to 810 K is investigated. The optical absorbance and depth profiles of hardness before and after annealing were measured. A marked recovery of hardness and change in the optical absorption spectra were observed at temperatures above 520-530 K. An activation energy of 0.15±0.02eV, which is close to that for the thermal migration of H centers, is obtained from the annealing data. The results indicate a significant role of the H-center aggregates in the hardening and annealing processes. The maximum hardening is created and the…