Combined Lattice Location and Hyperfine Field Study of Yb Implanted into Fe

Ion implantation has been extensively used to prepare radioactive sources of impurities in metals for hyperfine interaction studies. However, it has been found that the hyperfine field (hf) at implanted impurities may vary according to the implantation conditions as well as the processing of the host (see, for example, Reis. 1–3). Factors which can influence the measured hf include radiation damage, the concentration and location of the impurity atoms in the host lattice, and their migration or precipitation on annealing. The impurity lattice location (as well as certain types of radiation damage) can be investigated by the technique of ion channeling. In order to understand better the various factors on which the hf may depend, it was decided to make a combined channel-ing-hf study on a suitable system.