Scanning force microscopy on heavy-ion tracks in muscovite mica: track diameter versus energy loss and loading force

Mica is very sensitive to heavy-ion irradiation and offers an ideal surface for scanning force microscopy (SFM) of ion-induced tracks. In our work, mica samples are irradiated with heavy ions (the kinetic energies ranging from 0.5 to 2.76 GeV) at the Universal Linear Accelerator UNILAC of GSI. The cross-sections of latent ion tracks on freshly cleaved mica surfaces are imaged by lateral-force microscopy. By evaluating the statistical distribution of the track diameters, we enlarge our previously available data set of mean track diameters versus ion energy loss by two additional points for zinc and selenium. The influence of the loading force on the SFM imaging process is also addressed, in confirmation of a linear relation between apparent ion track diameters and load.