Role of electron-phonon coupling on collision cascade development in Ni, Pd, and Pt

Electron-phonon coupling in energetic collision cascades is believed to greatly enhance the cooling rate of heat spikes in many metals. Previous studies have not been able to conclusively determine the magnitude of the coupling, however. By directly comparing ion-beam mixing experiments and molecular dynamics simulations of collision cascades in Ni, Pd, and Pt metals, in which the coupling is believed to be most important, we show that the influence of electron-phonon coupling on mixing can be no more than about 30%, roughly an order of magnitude less than the most widely used models predict.