Helium emission spectra from doped samples of solid hydrogen and deuterium

Using proton-beam irradiation at 15 MeV, the emission spectra from 3He and 4He doped samples of solid hydrogen and deuterium have been observed from 350–750 nm at 4.2 K. Such samples simulate the conditions of solid tritium or tritiated hydrogens after about six days of helium accretion. The spectra are very similar to pure helium gas spectra acquired at 4.2 K and closer still to spectra acquired using helium gas in the upper portion of a sample cell partially filled with solid hydrogen. The helium collects as macroscopically large bubbles whose pressure has been determined. The pure 4He gas spectrum at 4.2 K contains a band near 460 nm previously assigned to an unspecified excimer–dimer radiative transition. The pressure and isotope dependence of this band is presented which lends support to that interpretation. A mechanism is proposed for the transition.