Enhanced radiation tolerance in nanocrystalline MgGa_2O_4

摘要

The authors demonstrate a substantial enhancement in radiation-induced amorphization resistance for single-phased nanocrystalline (NC) versus large-grained polycrystalline MgGa_2O_4. NC and large-grained MgGa_2O_4 were irradiated at ～100 K with 300 keV Kr~(++) ions to fluences ranging between 5 X 10~(19) and 4 X 10~(20) Kr/m~2. Large-grained MgGa_2O_4 samples began to amorphize by a fluence of 5 X 10~(19) Kr/m~2, while NC MgGa_2O_4 remained crystalline with no evidence for structural changes (other than moderate grain growth in the lowermost implanted region), to a fluence of 4 X 10~(20) Kr/m~2. To our knowledge, this is the first experimental study to reveal enhanced amorphization resistance in an irradiated, single-phase, NC material.