Effect of Rotational Quantum States (J=0, 1) on the Tunneling Reaction H2+T→H+HT in Xenon—hydrogen Mixtures at 77 K

The effect of rotational quantum states (J=0, 1) on the tunneling reaction H2+T→H+HT in solid Xe-H2-D2 mixtures has been studied at 77 K. When T atoms are produced by a 6Li(n, α)T reaction in xenon—hydrogen (1 mol%) mixtures, most recoil T atoms are thermalized before encountering the solute hydrogen at 1 mol% and react with H2 and D2 by tunneling to produce HT and DT. The ratio of HT to DT yields, [HT]/[DT], in the Xe-p-H2 (J=0)-D2 mixtures is larger than the [HT]/[DT] ratio in Xe-n-H2-D2 mixtures, where n-H2 consists of 75% o-H2 (J=1) and 25% p-H2. The ratio of the rate constant for the tunneling reaction H2(J=0) + T→H+HT to that for the tunneling reaction H2(J=1) +T → H+HT, i.e. k(H2(J=0)+T)/k(H2(J=1)+T), was estimated as 4±2 from HT yields.