Mössbauer study of the modification of iron during bombardment with deuterium at low temperature

Mossbauer spectra of a vacuum deposited 95 nm thick⁵⁷Fe film sandwiched between 35 nm copper layers on a beryllium substrate were measured during and after implantation with 60 keV D₃ ⁺ ions to a fluence of 1.2×10¹⁸ D⁺/cm². The modifications of the spectra indicate that at the target temperature of 100 K deuterium is mainly trapped at defects in the α-iron lattice or reemitted. Hydride formation is observed only weakly when the fluence exceeds 10¹⁸ D⁺/cm². After annealing at room temperature, a complete recovery of the ordinary α-iron spectrum is observed.