CHANNELING STUDY ON DAMAGE IN POTASSIUM TITANYL PHOSPHATE INDUCED BY ION IRRADIATION

Potassium titanyl phosphate (KTiOPO4 or KTP) is a quadriatomic materia l made of O, P, K, and Ti which crystallizes in an orthorhombic struct ure with space group Pna2. The virgin KTP at different axial orientati on, [100], [001], and [010], has been investigated by the channeling t echnique. The obtained corresponding minimum yields are 3.8, 4, and 11 %, respectively. Damage in KTP was created by 200 and 400 keV He-, Xe -, and Hg-ion irradiations with the dose varying from 1 X 10(13) to 1 X 10(16) ions/cm2. The effect of ion mass, energy, dose, annealing tem perature, and orientation of KTP on the damage has been studied. The n umber of displaced atoms, the damage peak, and damage width are extrac ted from the experimental data. The numbers of the displaced atoms obt ained are compared with the TRIM code (the transport of ions in the ma tters). The result shows that the experimental numbers of the displace d atoms are in agreement with theoretical ones predicted by the TRIM c ode within the order of the magnitude. Also for the case of He ion imp lanted in KTP to a dose of 1 X 10(16) ions/cm2, the recovery of the cr ystallinity of the KTP is observed after 800-degrees-C annealing.