Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 February 2011
10B - 11B isotope shifts have been reported recently for the vibrational frequencies of hydrogen (H) and its isotope deuterium (D) in the H-B complex in silicon. The D-10 B - D11 B shift was found to be anomalously large. We show that this effect finds a natural explanation in a phenomenon called “Fermi resonance”, arising from a weak anharmonic coupling between the second harmonic of the transverse B vibration and the longitudinal D vibration. We first present a simple classical explanation of the effect in terms of a “parametric oscillator”, or a child pumping a swing. We then outline a simple quantum mechanical treatment that provides a satisfactory quantitative explanation of the results. Our calculations also predict infrared absorption at the boron second harmonic frequencies. These are observed for both 10B and 11B with intensities and polarization as predicted, providing direct confirmation of the interpretation. The Pankove Si-H-B model, therefore, remains intact.