Additive effects of electronic and nuclear energy losses in irradiation-induced amorphization of zircon

摘要

We used a combination of ion cascades and the unified thermal spike model to study the electronic effects from 800 keV Kr and Xe ion irradiation in zircon. We compared the damage production for four cases: (a) due to ion cascades alone, (b) due to ion cascades with the electronic energy loss activated as a friction term, (c) due to the thermal spike from the combined electronic and nuclear energy losses, and (d) due to ion cascades with electronic stopping and the electron-phonon interactions superimposed. We found that taking the electronic energy loss out as a friction term results in reduced damage, while the electronic electron-phonon interactions have additive impact on the final damage created per ion.