Thermal conductivity of solid argon with oxygen admixtures

Abstract

Thermal conductivity investigations of pure and oxygen doped argon crystals have been carried out over the temperature range 1.3–26 K. Samples with oxygen concentration of 0.008, 0.024, 0.063, 0.225, and 0.390 mol % were measured. The result is that the interaction of phonons with the spin-rotational motion of oxygen molecules in an argon matrix is the most significant among possible mechanisms of phonon scattering by the impurities. In the thermal conductivity of the samples, no mutual interaction of the oxygen impurities has been observed over the investigated impurity concentration range.