Anisotropy of disorder accumulation and recovery in 6H-SiC irradiated with Au ions at 140 K

Single crystal 〈0 0 0 1〉-oriented 6H-SiC was irradiated with Au²⁺ ions to fluences of 0.032, 0.058 and 0.105 ions/nm² at 140 K and was subsequently annealed at various temperatures up to 500 K. The relative disorder on both the Si and C sublattices has been determined simultaneously using in situ D⁺ ion channeling along the 〈0 0 0 1〉 and 〈〉 axes. A higher level of disorder on both the Si and C sublattices is observed along the 〈〉. There is a preferential C disordering and more C interstitials are aligned with 〈0 0 0 1〉. Room-temperature recovery along 〈〉 occurs, which is associated with the 〈0 0 0 1〉-aligned interstitials that annihilate due to close-pair recombination. Disorder recovery between 400 and 500 K is primarily attributed to annihilation of interstitials that are misaligned with 〈0 0 0 1〉 and to epitaxial crystallization. Effects of stacking order in SiC on disorder accumulation are insignificant; however, noticeable differences of low-temperature recovery in Au²⁺-irradiated 6H-SiC and 4H-SiC are observed.     

Measurement of radiation-enhanced diffusion of La in single crystal thin film CeO2

The diffusion of La, a trivalent cation dopant, actinide surrogate, and high-yield fission product, in CeO₂, a UO₂ nuclear fuel surrogate, during 1.8 MeV Kr⁺ ion bombardment over a temperature range from 673 K to 1206 K has been measured with secondary ion mass spectroscopy. The diffusivity under these irradiation conditions has been analyzed with a model based on a combination of sink-limited and recombination-limited kinetics. This analysis yielded a cation vacancy migration energy of  ∼ 0.4 eV below ∼800 K, were recombination-limited kinetics dominated the behavior. The thermal diffusivity of La in the same system was measured over a range of 873-1073 K and was characterized by an activation enthalpy of . The measurement of both the migration enthalpy and total activation enthalpy separately allows the vacancy formation enthalpy on the cation sublattice to be determined;  ∼ 1 eV. The mixing parameter under energetic heavy-ion bombardment at room temperature was measured as well and found to be ∼4 × 10⁻⁵ nm⁵/eV.     

Comparison of secondary ion emission yields for poly-tyrosine between cluster and heavy ion impacts

Emission yields of secondary ions necessary for the identification of poly-tyrosine were compared for incident ion impacts of energetic cluster ions (0.8 MeV , 2.4 MeV , and 4.0 MeV ) and swift heavy monoatomic molybdenum ions (4.0 MeV Mo⁺ and 14 MeV Mo⁴⁺) with similar mass to that of the cluster by time-of-flight secondary ion mass analysis combined with secondary ion electric current measurements. The comparison revealed that (1) secondary ion emission yields per impact increase with increasing incident energy within the energy range examined, (2) the 4.0 MeV impact provides higher emission yields than the impact of the monoatomic Mo ion with the same incident energy (4.0 MeV Mo⁺), and (3) the 2.4 MeV impact exhibits comparable emission yields to that for the Mo ion impact with higher incident energy (14 MeV Mo⁴⁺). Energetic cluster ion impacts effectively produce the characteristic secondary ions for poly-tyrosine, which is advantageous for highly sensitive amino acid detection in proteins using time-of-flight secondary ion mass analysis.     

Radiation induced defects in BaBPO5:Ce and their role in thermally stimulated luminescence reactions: EPR and TSL investigations

Defect centers induced by gamma irradiation in Ce doped BaBPO₅ were investigated using EPR spectroscopy. From EPR studies, three phosphorous centered radicals were characterized on the basis of observed ³¹P hyperfine splitting and g values as , and radicals. In addition to this, two types of boron oxygen hole centers (BOHC) and O⁻ were also formed at room temperature. An intense broad signal in sample annealed in argon (g_⊥ = 1.9258 and g_‖ = 1.8839) was assigned to Ce³⁺ ions associated with the electron trapped at anion vacancy or nearby lattice defect. TSL studies showed two glow peaks, a relatively weaker one at 425 K and an intense one at 575 K. Spectral studies of the TSL glow peaks have shown that Ce³⁺ ion acts as emission center. From the temperature dependence of the EPR spectra of gamma irradiated samples, the glow peaks at 425 K and 575 K were attributed to thermal destruction of /O⁻ and BOHC, respectively, by trapping of electrons from elsewhere. The energy released in electron hole recombination process is used for the excitation of Ce³⁺ ions resulting in these glow peaks at 425 K and 575 K. The spectral studies of the TSL glow peaks have shown emission at 330 nm indicating Ce³⁺ acts as the luminescent centre. The trap depth and the frequency factor for the 425 K and 575 K peaks were determined using different heating rates method.     

Monitoring the embrittlement of reactor pressure vessel steels by using the Seebeck coefficient

The degree of embrittlement of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) limits the lifetime of nuclear power plants. Therefore, neutron irradiation-induced embrittlement of RPV steels demands accurate monitoring. Current federal legislation requires a surveillance program in which specimens are placed inside the RPV for several years before their fracture toughness is determined by destructive Charpy impact testing. Measuring the changes in the thermoelectric properties of the material due to irradiation, is an alternative and non-destructive method for the diagnostics of material embrittlement. In this paper, the measurement of the Seebeck coefficient () of several Charpy specimens, made from two different grades of 22 NiMoCr 37 low-alloy steels, irradiated by neutrons with energies greater than 1 MeV, and fluencies ranging from 0 up to 4.5 × 10¹⁹ neutrons per cm², are presented. Within this range, it was observed that increased by ≈500 nV/°C and a linear dependency was noted between and the temperature shift ΔT_41 J of the Charpy energy vs. temperature curve, which is a measure for the embrittlement. We conclude that the change of the Seebeck coefficient has the potential for non-destructive monitoring of the neutron embrittlement of RPV steels if very precise measurements of the Seebeck coefficient are possible.     

Transport properties of I, Te and Xe in thoria-urania SIMFUEL

Diffusion properties for volatile fission products iodine and tellurium, and gaseous product xenon in a solid solution of thoria-2 mol% urania doped with fission products for simulating 2 at.% burnup were obtained by studying the release kinetics of the species from trace-irradiated fuel samples at different temperatures using post-irradiation annealing technique. Bulk diffusion coefficients for Xe, I and Te were evaluated in a well-defined powder sample of particle size in the range of 37-45 μm (25 m² kg⁻¹ BET surface area) with 97% of theoretical density. Temperature dependences of the apparent diffusion coefficients of Xe, I and Te derived from this study could be expressed in the form of Arrhenius equations for the respective cases as ln (s⁻¹) = −(19,480 ± 3300)/T − 9.3 ± 2.2 and ln (s⁻¹) = −(31,234 ± 3000)/T − 3.7 ± 2.0, (1273 ? T/K ? 1773) and ln (s⁻¹) = −(22,755 ± 1364)/T − 0.003 ± 0.775, 1700 ? T/K ? 1800. For Xe diffusion the activation energy and frequency factor are 189 kJ mol⁻¹ and 0.997 s⁻¹, respectively. For I and Te the activation energy values are 162 and 260 kJ mol⁻¹, respectively. The respective frequency factors for I and Te are 9.1 × 10⁻⁵ and 2.5 × 10⁻² s⁻¹. On comparison with the reported data in pure urania and thoria matrices a lowering of activation energy for all three species was observed in case of the fission product doped matrix. On the other hand the frequency factor has increased only in the case for diffusion of Xe. This suggests different mechanisms of transport for Xe and volatile fission products I and Te in the fuel matrix.     

H2 inhibition of radiation induced dissolution of spent nuclear fuel

In order to elucidate the effect of noble metal clusters in spent nuclear fuel on the kinetics of radiation induced spent fuel dissolution we have used Pd particle doped UO₂ pellets. The catalytic effect of Pd particles on the kinetics of radiation induced dissolution of UO₂ during γ-irradiation in containing solutions purged with N₂ and H₂ was studied in this work. Four pellets with Pd concentrations of 0%, 0.1%, 1% and 3% were produced to mimic spent nuclear fuel. The pellets were placed in 10 mM aqueous solutions and γ-irradiated, and the dissolution of was measured spectrophotometrically as a function of time. Under N₂ atmosphere, 3% Pd prevent the dissolution of uranium by reduction with the radiolytically produced H₂, while the other pellets show a rate of dissolution of around 1.6 × 10⁻⁹ mol m⁻² s⁻¹. Under H₂ atmosphere already 0.1% Pd effectively prevents the dissolution of uranium, while the rate of dissolution for the pellet without Pd is 1.4 × 10⁻⁹ mol m⁻² s⁻¹. It is also shown in experiments without radiation in aqueous solutions containing H₂O₂ and O₂ that ?-particles catalyze the oxidation of the UO₂ matrix by these molecular oxidants, and that the kinetics of the catalyzed reactions is close to diffusion controlled.     

Helium diffusion in uranium and plutonium oxides

Samples of UO₂, (U,Pu)O₂ and PuO₂ containing up to several 100 at. ppm helium were submitted to thermal annealing in a Knudsen-cell provided with a mass spectrometer. Gas release was measured on line with a great accuracy. In the examined materials helium was created by α-decay of plutonium or laboratory infused at high temperature and high pressure. The selected samples exhibited different types of lattice damage, including reactor burn-up and high α-radiation doses. Analysis of helium release as a function of temperature enabled the elementary diffusion processes to be investigated and the atomic diffusion coefficient to be deduced for a defined state of helium-in-solid. The helium diffusion coefficient has the expression:

     

Photoluminescence study of swift heavy ion (SHI) induced defect centers in sapphire

Single crystals of sapphire (Al₂O₃: Fe, Ti, Cr) were irradiated at room temperature with different fluence of 100 MeV Ni ions. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra of pristine and irradiated sapphires were recorded at room temperature under 2.8 eV blue excitation. A broad emission band consists of two bands centered at 516 nm corresponding to F₂ defect center and 546 nm corresponding to defect center was observed. The intensity of these defect centers was found to vary with the fluence. defect center develops at low fluence reaching maximum at 5 × 10¹⁶ ions/m² and finally decreasing at higher fluence. The behavior is interpreted in terms of creation of defect centers, their clustering and annihilation.     

Crystallographic measurement of the β to α phase transformation and δ-hydride precipitation in a laser-welded Zircaloy-2 tube by electron backscattering diffraction

Crystallographic measurement of the β to α phase transformation and δ-hydride precipitation in a laser-welded Zircaloy-2 ferrule tube were carried out using an electron backscattering diffraction pattern (EBSP). A basket-weave structure with sub-micron lath width caused by quenching from the β to α phase was observed in the heat-affected and fusion zones, and mainly showed a grain boundary misorientation angle of 60° with an <1 1  0> rotation axis. This result is consistent with the Burgers orientation relationship of {1 1 0}_β//(0 0 0 1)_α and <1 1 1>_β//<1 1  0>_α for the β to α phase transformation. The texture of the quenched α′ phase was strongly inherited from the original α phase, having a radial (0 0 0 1) basal pole and axial {1 1  0} textures, even in the fusion zone. The primary hydride habit plane in the welded Zircaloy-2 was (0 0 0 1)_α//{1 1 1}_δ, matching previously obtained results for recrystallized cladding tubes. In addition to the primary habit plane, secondary habit planes were observed for the other low-index planes {1 0  0} and {1 0  1} in the fusion zone. The heterogeneous accumulation of hydrides in the transition zone between heat-affected and unaffected zones was mainly due to the residual stress distribution in the narrow region.     

Ion beam induced defects in solids studied by optical techniques

Optical methods can provide important insights into the mechanisms and consequences of ion beam interactions with solids. This is illustrated by four distinctly different systems.X- and Y-cut LiNbO₃ crystals implanted with 8 MeV Au³⁺ ions with a fluence of 1 × 10¹⁷ ions/cm² result in gold nanoparticle formation during high temperature annealing. Optical extinction curves simulated by the Mie theory provide the average nanoparticle sizes. TEM studies are in reasonable agreement and confirm a near-spherical nanoparticle shape but with surface facets. Large temperature differences in the nanoparticle creation in the X- and Y-cut crystals are explained by recrystallisation of the initially amorphised regions so as to recreate the prior crystal structure and to result in anisotropic diffusion of the implanted gold.Defect formation in alkali halides using ion beam irradiation has provided new information. Radiation-hard CsI crystals bombarded with 1 MeV protons at 300 K successfully produce F-type centres and V-centres having the structure as identified by optical absorption and Raman studies. The results are discussed in relation to the formation of interstitial iodine aggregates of various types in alkali iodides. Depth profiling of and aggregates created in RbI bombarded with 13.6 MeV/A argon ions at 300 K is discussed.The recrystallisation of an amorphous silicon layer created in crystalline silicon bombarded with 100 keV carbon ions with a fluence of 5 × 10¹⁷ ions/cm² during subsequent high temperature annealing is studied by Raman and Brillouin light scattering.Irradiation of tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) films with 1 MeV protons with fluences from 1 × 10¹⁵ to 250 × 10¹⁵ ions/cm⁻² induces visible darkening over a broad spectral region that shows three stages of development. This is attributed to the formation of defect clusters by a model of defect growth and also high fluence optical absorption studies. X-ray diffraction studies show evidence of a strained lattice after the proton bombardment and recovery after long period storage. The effects are attributed to the annealing of the defects produced.     

Fabrication and nuclear analysis of isotopic N and N ion-implanted silicon standards

The fabrication of reliable isotopic nitrogen standards is achieved in Si through ¹⁴N and ¹⁵N ion implantation. 60 keV and ions were implanted at 400 °C up to ∼60% peak atomic concentration, yielding nitrogen-saturated silicon layers as measured using resonant nuclear reaction analysis. No isotopic effect has been observed. The nitrogen standards are validated by measurements of stability under ion irradiation. No significant desorption of nitrogen is observed either under a ⁴He⁺ ion fluence of 3.36 × 10¹⁶ cm⁻² or under a ¹H⁺ ion fluence of 8.60 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻², giving strong evidence that isotopic nitrogen standards can be achieved.     

Preparation of Ne, Mg, Si, S, and Ar targets by ion implantation into thin carbon foils

The preparation of isotopically pure targets of ²⁰Ne, ²⁴Mg, ²⁸Si, ³²S, and ³⁶Ar by the implantation of 25-70 keV ions into carbon foils is described.     

Saturation in deuterium retention of CFC graphite targets exposed to beryllium-seeded plasmas on PISCES-B

ITER strike-plates are foreseen to be of carbon-fiber-composite (CFC). In this study the CFC bulk deuterium retention in ITER-relevant conditions is investigated. DMS 701 (Dunlop) CFC targets were exposed to plasma in PISCES-B divertor plasma simulator. Samples were exposed to both pure deuterium plasma and beryllium-seeded plasma at high fluences (up to ) and high surface temperature (1070 K). The deuterium contents of the exposed samples have been measured using both thermal-desorption-spectrometry (TDS) during baking at 1400 K and ion beam nuclear reaction analysis (NRA). The total deuterium inventory has been obtained from TDS while NRA measured the deuterium depth distribution. In the analysed fluence range at target temperature of 1070 K, no fluence dependence was observed. The measured released deuterium is . In the case of target exposure with beryllium-seeded plasma no change in the released amount of deuterium was found. The deuterium concentration inside the samples is almost constant until the probed depth of ?m, except in the first 1 μm surface layer, where it is 5 times higher than in the bulk. No C erosion/redeposition was observed in the Be-seeded plasma cases. The measured retention, applied to 50 m² of ITER CFC surface, would imply a tritium saturated value of 0.3 gT, much lower than the ITER safety limit of 350 g.     

The interaction of antihydrogen with simple atoms and molecules

In this paper, we describe calculations that we have carried out of cross sections for rearrangement processes in very low-energy helium + antihydrogen scattering that result in or or . A significantly more accurate method from that used previously [E.A.G. Armour, S. Jonsell, Y. Liu, A.C. Todd, Nucl. Instr. and Meth. B 247 (2006) 127] is used to calculate the entrance channel wave function. Results are presented for the first two processes. Mention is made of the use of the method in calculations of low-energy e⁺H₂ scattering.