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 H-2 + T --> H + HT in solid Xe-H-2-D2 mixture has been studied at 77 K. When T atoms are produced by a Li-6 (n, alpha) 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 H-2 and D2 by tunneling to produce HT and DT. The ratio of HT to DT yields, [HT]/[DT], in the Xe-p-H-2 (J = 0)-D2 mixtures is larger than the [HT]/[DT] ratio in Xe-n-H-2-D2 MixtUres, where n-H-2 consists of 75% p-H-2 (J = 1) and 25% p-H-2. The ratio of the rate constant for the tunneling reaction H-2 (J = 0) + T --> H + HT to that for the tunneling reaction H-2 (J = 1) + T --> H + HT, i.e. k (H-2 (J = 0) + T) /k (H-2 (J = 1) + T), was estimated as 4 +/- 2 from HT yields.