Radiation effects in insulators

Abstract

Beam Interactions with Materials 8 AtomsMy survey of radiation effects in insulators concentrates on the three main thrusts of mechanisms, materials, and applications. By mechanisms I include the processes occurring during irradiation, including defect production, amorphisation and mixing. This includes the roles of electronic excitation and of energy localisation, of charge redistribution, of surface processes like sputtering and desorption, and subsequent thermal processes. Materials must reflect new interests: the relation of the insulating oxides to oxide superconductors, and parallels between damage in organics and inorganics. Applications include cases where the radiation is the natural environment of space, the operating environment of a nuclear facility, or the controlled irradiation of an accelerator. In such applications the radiation effects are critical, and include insulator performance under radiation, and examples from erosion and lithography, adhesion, and coatings preparation.