A comparative study ofγ-ray colouration and electrodeless discharge excitation is reported for NaF. New absorption bands and glow peaks were found. These are shown to be characteristic of electrodeless discharge method of colouration. These are attributed to the multiple types of defects. Further, it is shown that the process by which such defects are formed is strongly temperature dependant. A tentative explanation for the peculiar characteristic of the electrodeless discharge excitation is put forth. The possibility of exploiting these peculiarities for the study of certain properties of colour centres is pointed out.

Fine powder of KI was coloured in an electrodeless discharge. Due to quick bleaching of the F centres produced in this method, it was possible to prepare the samples that were almost free from the F centres. High concentration of the electron deficient centres could be produced, which were studied by measuring the diffused reflectance. A band at 354 nm is shown to be composed of two overlapping bands. Further, growth of a band appearing at 265 nm is studied. Bleaching characteristics of the samples are studied and it is shown that, similar to F centre bleaching, bleaching of these samples also proceeds in at least two steps. The difference between two components of the bleaching curves is quite marked. Further it is showed that the components are related to the presence of different absorption bands and appear at different stages of colouration.

Average dislocation density in a number of electrolytically coloured and uncoloured crystals of KBr and KCl has been measured using the etch-pit technique. A decrease in density of dislocation after electrolytic colouration has been observed. This is attributed to the change in the dislocation pattern inside the crystals during colouration to produce more number of vacancies under the typical conditions of large electric field gradient at high temperature.

A comparative study of the optical and thermoluminescent properties ofγ irradiated NaBr and NaBr coloured in an electrodeless discharge is reported. In discharge coloured NaBrF centre absorption maxima shifted with the colouration time. This is tentatively attributed to the formation ofE centres. Correspondingly, an additional peak was observed in thermoluminescence glow curve. It is suggested that the results are not characteristic of the method of colouration but rather of the imperfections inherent to the powders, and in a perfect (undeformed) single crystal such a phenomenon should not be observed.

Microcrystalline powders of NaCl, KCl and KBr are coloured in electrodeless discharge. Reflectance and TL studies of these coloured powders are reported. It is concluded that colouration of powders can be understood by considering them as an admixture of perfect and imperfect lattices, and differs from that of single crystals. It is suggested that some of the descrepancies reported on TL data may be due to such a difference. Further, it is shown that a better correlation can be had if TL data are presented along with the corresponding optical measurements. Adoption of such a procedure may help to remove the descrepancy in TL data.

The mechanoluminescence (ML) of NaCl, NaBr, NaF, LiCl and LiF crystals ceases at 105, 58, 170, 151 and 175°C respectively. Both the temperatureT_c at whichML disappears and the temperatureT_s required to induce a particular percentage of colouration decay in a given time, decreases with increasing nearest neighbour distance in alkali halide crystals. This perhaps suggests that similar processes cause the disappearance ofml in alkali halide crystals and the colouration decay in their microcrystalline powders. It is shown that mobile dislocations may cause the leakage of surface charge and the decay of colouration in microcrystalline powders.