Amorphization of mica through the formation of GeV heavy ion tracks

The research on energy relaxation and track creation processes with GeV heavy ions is closely related with the description of the ion track morphology and with the measurements of track diameters. Track diameters have been systematically measured in mica, indirectly by X-ray and neutron small angle scattering and by wide-angle X-ray diffraction, or directly by atomic force microscopy imaging. Our X-ray diffraction measurements are interpreted through three effects: the loss of long-range order (creation of amorphous tracks, the diameter of which is deduced and compared with the results of the other methods), the dilatation of the residual crystal along [001], and the crystal to paracrystal transition.