Kinetics of F center annealing and colloid formation in Al2O3

The diffusion-controlled kinetics of the F center annealing in Al2O3 (sapphire, corundum) is simulated theoretically for the two regimes: after neutron irradiation when the immobile F centers are annihilated with complementary defects - mobile interstitial oxygen ions, and in thermochemically reduced (additively colored) crystals where mobile F centers aggregate and create the metal colloids. A comparison of the experimental and theoretical kinetics allowed us to estimate the migration energies for the F centers and interstitial oxygen ions. It is obtained that the pre-exponents in diffusion coefficients for defects in different neutron irradiated samples can vary by two orders of magnitude which is attributed by presence of numerous traps for mobile interstitial oxygen ions.