Formation of vacancies and metallic-like domains in photochromic rare-earth oxyhydride thin films studied by in-situ illumination positron annihilation spectroscopy

Rare-earth (RE) oxyhydride thin films show a color-neutral, reversible photochromic effect at ambient conditions. The origin of the photochromism is the topic of current investigations. Here, we investigated the lattice defects, electronic structure, and crystal structure of photochromic YHxOy and GdHxOy thin films deposited by magnetron...