Transient thermal process induced by swift heavy ions: Defect annealing and defect creation in Fe and Ni

In the present paper, a method is proposed to quantitatively estimate the n uclear defect annealing by the electronic stopping power S-e. The spatial d istribution of defects created in metals by nuclear collisions is known fro m numerical calculation based on the binary collisions with screened Coulom b potential. In the framework of the thermal spike model, S-e induced annea ling of nuclear defects is simulated without considering athermal recombina tion. These calculations are applied to iron and nickel. The agreement betw een experiment and simulation in iron allows to determine the electron-phon on coupling value for iron. The defect creation by S-e arises when time ene rgy deposited on the atoms overcomes the energy necessary to melt the mater ial.