Diffusion of deuterium
in potassium is studied herein. Mass transfer
is controlled predominantly by the mechanism of overbarrier atomic
jumps at temperatures 120–260 K and by the tunneling mechanism
at 90–120 K. These results together with literature data allowed
us to determine conditions under which the quantum diffusion of hydrogen
in metals can be observed, which is a fundamental problem. It is established
that in metals with a body-centered cubic lattice tunneling can be
observed only at temperatures below the Debye temperature θD solely for metals with θD < 350 K. Predictions
are made for metals in which quantum diffusion of hydrogen can be
experimentally registered. Metals for which such results cannot be
obtained are specified as well. Among them are important engineering
materials such as α-Fe, W, Mo, V, and Cr.