Implantation sites of Ce and Gd in diamond

The implantation sites of rare earth (RE) probes /sup 141/Ce (t/sub 1 /2/=32 d) and /sup 149/Gd (t/sub 1/2/=9.28 d) in diamond have been investigated using the emission channeling (EC) technique. Parent isotopes /sup 141/Cs and /sup 149/Dy were implanted into type IIa, diamond samples at an energy of 60 keV at the online isotope separator ISOLDE at CERN. /sup 141/Cs decays through the chain /sup 141/Cs-/sup 141/Ba-/sup 141/La-/sup 141/Ce-/sup 141/ Pr. EC measurements were made on the 102 keV conversion electrons emitted in the decay of /sup 141/Pr to its ground state. The decay of /sup 149 /Dy follows the chain /sup 149/Dy-/sup 149/Tb-/sup 149/Gd-/sup 149 /Eu-/sup 149/Sm. EC measurements were made on the 101 keV electrons emitted in the decay of /sup 149/Eu. Two-dimensional channeling patterns of the conversion electrons were obtained along <110> and <111> axial directions by raster scans with a Si surface barrier detector. Comparison of the observed patterns with simulated spectra show that in diamond 45-50% of the RE atoms are located near substitutional sites, unlike the case in Si. (20 refs).