SWIFT HEAVY-ION-INDUCED PLASTIC-DEFORMATION

Electronic energy loss, which dominates the slowing down of swift heavy ions in solids, leads to atomic rearrangements depending on the nature of the irradiated target. Amorphous materials are subject to structural changes similar to those observed in crystalline materials and undergo anisotropic plastic deformation. The former process occurs at the beginning of the irradiation while the latter one takes place above an incubation fluence depending on the nature of the target. This plastic deformation consists of a steady increase of the sample dimensions perpendicular to the ion-beam direction together with a decrease of the dimension parallel to it, at constant volume.