SWIFT HEAVY-IONS IN MATERIALS SCIENCE - EMERGING POSSIBILITIES

Swift heavy ions (SHI) ions with energy which produce large electronic energy loss are now being used for modification of the properties of the materials through electron phonon coupling. Characteristic defects produced by heavy ions in insulators can also be produced in other ma terials if sufficient energy can be locked into electronic energy whic h can be transferred to the lattice. Electronic energy loss in the mat erials can be varied in the range of eV/A to 10 keV/A by choosing appr opriate ions and their energies. This flexibility coupled with new pos sibilities with cluster beams are providing opportunities to engineer the properties of all kinds of materials for the future. (C) 1998 Else vier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.