The Effect of Ionizing Radiation on the Internal Friction of Synthetic Quartz

The effect of ionizing radiation on the internal friction of 5 Mc/s shear waves in AT-cut synthetic quartz resonators has been measured over a temperature range of 10-400 °K as a function of the rate of growth of the parent quartz crystal. It is found that in all specimens the 50 °K peak is removed by irradiation and that for slowly grown quartz the 20 °K peak is enhanced by about 50%. A radiation-induced peak has been found at about 325 °K in fast-grown synthetic quartz. The results are discussed in terms of the current theories of the interaction of phonons and imperfections in dielectric crystals.