Simple model to study some properties of H trapped in solids

A simple model for the hydrogen atom trapped in a crystalline matrix is presented this work. The model assumes the atom to be confined within a spherical cavity with impenetrable, walls and the nucleus placed off the center of symmetry of the confining sphere. Because the corresponding Schrodinger equation for this system is nonseparable, we use a variational approach to study some physical properties such as the binding energy, dipole moment, and hyperfine splitting. Despite the crudeness of this model, some experimental data recently reported can be accounted, at least on qualitative grounds, thus giving some reliability to our proposal. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.