M. Toulemonde et al., ATOMIC AND CLUSTER ION-BOMBARDMENT IN THE ELECTRONIC STOPPING POWER REGIME - A THERMAL SPIKE DESCRIPTION, Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section B, Beam interactions with materials and atoms, 112(1-4), 1996, pp. 26-29
A brief review of experimental results of defect creation in metallic
materials supports the assumption that the electron-phonon coupling is
the main physical parameter which determines their sensitivity agains
t the irradiation in the electronic stopping power (dE/dx) regime. Fol
lowing this idea the thermal spike model is developed using a numerica
l solution of two coupled equations describing the energy diffusion on
the electrons and on the lattice atoms respectively and their couplin
g. Assuming that the experimental observations may be interpreted by a
rapid quench of the induced molten phase, radii of latent tracks in T
i and Zr irradiated by atomic and cluster ions will be calculated and
compared to experimental results with quite a good agreement.