PNNL

Abstract

The dynamics of track development due to the passage of relativistic heavy ions through solids is a long-standing issue relevant to nuclear materials, age-dating of minerals, space exploration, and nanoscale fabrication of novel devices. We have integrated experimental and simulation approaches to investigate nanoscale phase transitions under the extreme conditions created within single tracks of relativistic ions in Gd2O3(TiO2)x and Gd2Zr2-xTixO7. Track size and internal structure depend on energy-density deposition, irradiation temperature, and material composition. Molecular dynamics methods based on the thermal spike model have simulated, for the first time, the internal structure of individual tracks, consistent with experimental observations. Individual ion tracks have nanoscale core-shell structures that provide a unique record of the phase transition pathways under extreme conditions.