Radiation damage in spinel single crystals

Basic work on radiation damage behaviour in compound materials requires separate analysis of lattice defects in each sublattice. MgAl2O4 spinel single crystals of [110] and [100] orientation were analysed by means of the RBS/channeling technique using 2.0-2.9 MeV He-4 beams, prior to and after implantation with Kr and Xe ions to fluences ranging from 10(14) to 10(17) at/cm(2). The results of our study indicate that only the Al- and O-sublattices can be heavily disordered. Damage peaks for these two sublattices grow continuously with increasing the implantation fluence and eventually reach the random level for approximately 2 X 10(16) Kr(Xe)/cm(2). The magnesium sublattice is much more stable: the height of the Mg damage peak saturates at ca. 20% of the random yield. A defect recovery stage at the temperature close to 500 degrees C was observed.