Temperature dependence of ortho-positronium annihilation in room temperature ionic liquids

Hirade, Tetsuya  ; Michishio, Koji*; Kobayashi, Yoshinori*; Oshima, Nagayasu*

Recently, it was reported that the positronium (Ps) bubble in Room Temperature Ionic Liquids (RTILs) showed some phenomena that were very different from them observed in other molecular liquids. Now the reason of these interesting phenomena is being understood. The structure caused by the ionic interaction between anions and cations can exist even at the higher temperatures than the melting temperatures. It was the reason why the oscillation of Ps bubble was observed at the temperatures near the melting temperatures in RTILs. The temperature dependence of the Ps bubble size estimated by the triplet Ps (-Ps) pick-off annihilation lifetime indicated that there was a nano-meter structure remained by ionic interactions even at high temperatures. The -Ps pick-off annihilation lifetime will be a strong tool to study nano-structure in RTILs.