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Title: Strain fields around high-energy ion tracks in {alpha}-quartz

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2345029· OSTI ID:20884742
; ; ;  [1]
  1. Radiation-Solid Interactions and Processing Department 1111, Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, MS 1056, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185-1056 (United States)

Transmission electron microscopy has been used to image the tracks of high-energy {sup 197}Au{sup +26} (374 MeV) and {sup 127}I{sup +18} (241 MeV) ions incident in a nonchanneling direction through a prethinned specimen of hexagonal {alpha}-quartz (SiO{sub 2}). These ions have high electronic stopping powers in quartz, 24 and 19 keV/nm, respectively, which are sufficient to produce a disordered latent track. When the tracks are imaged with diffraction contrast using several different reciprocal lattice vectors, they exhibit a radial strain extending outward from their disordered centerline approximately 16 nm into the crystalline surroundings. The images are consistent with a radial strain field with cylindrical symmetry around the amorphous track, like that found in models developed to account for the lateral expansion of amorphous SiO{sub 2} films produced by irradiation with high-energy ions. These findings provide an experimental basis for increased confidence in such modeling.

OSTI ID:
20884742
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 100, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2345029; (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English