RBS Analysis of Damage Evolution in Helium-implanted 4H-SiC

The understanding of mechanisms of damage evolution in silicon carbide bombarded with energetic heliumions is important for the use of this material in future fusion reactors. One interesting result from our recentTEM study of defect production in helium-implanted 4H-SiC is the rather high dose threshold for the forma-tion of nanometric helium bubbles This may supply an explanation for the observed defect depleted zone near the surface of silicon carbide. While the defect depleted zone is believed to be the reason of the high resistance of SiC nanocrystals and fibers to heavy irradiation.     

聚变堆候选金属材料的惰性气体离子辐照损伤的研究

综述了有关核聚变反应堆材料的辐照损伤问题的研究,主要包括国产316L奥氏体不锈钢中氦的扩散与氦泡形核生长的研究、316L及低活化FeCrMn合金的高能Ar离子辐照缺陷与空洞肿胀的研究、近期开展的低活化马氏体钢和氧化物颗粒弥散强化合金的高能Ne离子辐照损伤和效应的研究成果。This paper gives a review of our recent studies on the irradiation damage induced by energetic inert-gasions in metallic materials candidate to fusion reactors. The work includes the study of helium diffusion and helium bubble formation in 316L stainless steels, the study of void formation and swelling in the low-activation Fe-Cr-Mn alloy irradiated with high-energy Ar ions, the study of irradiation damage in some low-activation Fe-based steels and ODS alloys by high-energy Ne ions.     

Synergistic Effect of Triple Ion Beams on Radiation Damage in CLAM Steel

The synergistic effect of triple ion beams is investigated by simultaneous and scquential irradiations of gold, hydrogen and helium ions on the low activation martensitie steel （CLAM） developed in China. The depth profile measurements of the positron annihilation Doppler broadening S parameter are carried out as a function of slow- positron beam energy to examine the produced radiation damage. The synergistic effect of displacement damage and hydrogen and helium on the formation of radiation damage is clearly observed. In the preset case ,this effect suppresses the radiation damage in the CLAM steel due to the helium and/or hydrogen filling of vacancy clusters.     

Comparison study of the charge density distribution induced by heavy ions and pulsed lasers in silicon

Heavy ions and pulsed lasers are important means to simulate the ionization damage effects on semiconductor materials. The analytic solution of high-energy heavy ion energy loss in silicon has been obtained using the Bethe-Bloch formula and the Kobetich-Katz theory, and some ionization damage parameters of Fe ions in silicon, such as the track structure and ionized charge density distribution, have been calculated and analyzed according to the theoretical calculation results. Using the Gaussian function and Beer＇s law, the parameters of the track structure and charge density distribution induced by a pulsed laser in silicon have also been calculated and compared with those of Fe ions in silicon, which provides a theoretical basis for ionization damage effect modeling.     

利用高能离子模拟研究反应堆结构材料中的辐照效应

简要介绍了载能粒子辐射损伤对反应堆结构材料性能的影响,阐述了载能粒子束特别是高能离子束开展模拟研究的优势,并举例说明了国内利用高能重离子模拟研究反应堆结构材料辐射效应取得的进展。实验结果和理论分析表明,载能离子特别是高能离子辐照非常适合用于模拟研究反应堆结构材料中由粒子辐射引起的材料微观结构和宏观性能变化,是模拟研究反应堆结构材料辐射效应的非常有效的手段。 Radiation damage in structural materials of fission/fusion reactors is mainly attributed to the evolution of intensive atom displacement damage induced by energetic particles （ n, α and/or fission fragments） and highrate helium doping by direct α particle bombardments and/or （n, α） reactions. It can cause severe degradation of reactor structural materials such as surface blistering, bulk void swelling, deformation, fatigue, embrittlement, stress erosion corrosion and so on that will significantly affect the operation safety of reactors. However, up to now, behavior of structural materials at the end of their service can hardly be fully tested in a real reactor. In the present paper, damage process in reactor structural materials is briefly introduced, then the advantages of energetic ion implantation/irradiation especially high-energy heavy ion irradiation are discussed, and several typical examples on simulation of radiation effects in reactor candidate structural materials using high-energy heavy ion irradiations are introduced. Experimental results and theoretical analysis suggested that irradiation with energetic particles especially high-energy heavy ions is a very useful technique for simulating the evolution of microstructures and macro-properties of reactor structural materials.     

Comparison experiments of neon and helium buffer gases cooling in trapped ~(199)Hg~+ ions linear trap

The influences of different buffer gas, neon and helium, on199Hg+clock transition are compared in trapped199Hg+linear trap. By the technique of time domain’s Ramsey separated oscillatory fields, the buffer gas pressure frequency shifts of199Hg+clock transition are measured to be(d f /dPNe)(1/ f) = 1.8 × 10-8Torr-1for neon and(d f /dPHe)(1/ f) = 9.1 × 10-8Torr-1for helium. Meanwhile, the line-width of199Hg+clock transition spectrum with the buffer gas neon is narrower than that with helium at the same pressure. These experimental results show that neon is a more suitable buffer gas than helium in199Hg+ions microwave frequency standards because of the199Hg+clock transition is less sensitive to neon variations and the better cooling effect of neon. The optimum operating pressure for neon is found to be about 1.0 × 10-5Torr in our linear ion trap system.     

Thermal desorption characteristic of helium ion irradiated nickel-base alloy

The nickel-base alloy is one of the leading candidate materials for generation IV nuclear reactor pressure vessel.To evaluate its stability of helium damage and retention,helium ions with different energy of 80 keV and 180 keV were introduced by ion implantation to a certain dose(peak displacement damage 1-10 dpa).Then thermal desorption spectroscopy(TDS)of helium atoms was performed to discuss the helium desorption characteristic and trapping sites.The desorption peaks shift to a lower temperature with increasing dpa for both 80 keV and 180 keV irradiation,reflecting the reduced diffusion activation energy and faster diffusion within the alloy.The main release peak temperature of 180 keV helium injection is relatively higher than that of 80 keV at the same influence,which is because the irradiation damage of 180 keV,helium formation and entrapment occur deeper.The broadening of the spectra corresponds to different helium trapping sites(He-vacancies,grain boundary)and desorption mechanisms(different Hen Vm size).The helium retention amount of 80 keV is lower than that of 180 keV,and a saturation limit associated with the irradiation of 80 keV has been reached.The relatively low helium retention proves the better resistance to helium bubbles formation and helium brittleness.     

Effect of helium concentration on irradiation damage of Fe-ion irradiated SIMP steel at 300℃ and 450℃

SIMP steel is newly developed fully martensitic steel for lead-cooled fast reactors and accelerator-driven systems.It is important to evaluate its radiation resistance via high flux neutron irradiation, where dense He atoms can be formed via(n, α) transmutation reaction. Co-irradiation with Fe and He ions, instead of neutron, was performed. Specimens were irradiated with 6.4-Me V Fe ions to the damage dose of 5 dpa at a depth of 600 nm. Three different helium injection ratios of 60-appm He/dpa(dpa: displacements per atom), 200-appm He/dpa and 600-appm He/dpa at a depth of 600 nm,were performed. Two different irradiation temperatures of 300℃ and 450℃ were carried out. The effect of helium concentration on the microstructure of Fe-irradiated SIMP steel was investigated. Microstructural damage was observed using transmission electron microscopy. The formed dislocation loops and bubbles depended on the helium injection ratio and irradiation temperature. Lots of dislocation loops and helium bubbles were homogeneously distributed at 300℃, but not at 450℃. The causes of observed effects are discussed.     

Irradiation effect of yttria-stabilized zirconia by high dose dual ion beam irradiation

Yttria-stabilized zirconia （YSZ） is irradiated with 2.0-MeV Au2＋ ions and 30-keV He＋ ions. Three types of He, Au, Au ＋ He （successively） ion irradiation are performed. The maximum damage level of a sequential dual ion beam implanted sample is smaller than single Au ion implanted sample. A comparable volume swelling is found in a sequential dual ion beam irradiated sample and it is also found in a single Au ion implanted sample. Both effects can be explained by the partial reorganization of the dislocation network into weakly damaged regions in the dual ion beam implanted YSZ. A vacancy-assisted helium trapping/diffusion mechanism in the dual ion beam irradiated condition is discussed. No phase transformation or amorphization behavior happens in all types of ion irradiated YSZ.     

Effects of discharge current and voltage on the high density of metastable helium atoms

Both hollow-cathode and Penning-type discharges were adopted to excite helium atoms to a metastable state. Experimental data indicate that Penning discharge is more suitable for generating high fractions of metastables in a low-density helium beam for laser-induced fluorescence technique in measuring electric fields at the edge of a plasma. The metastable density increases with increasing helium gas pressure in the range of 1.33×10^{-2}－66.7Pa. The highest metastable density of 3.8×10^{16}m^{-3} is observed at a static gas pressure of 66.7Pa. An approximately linear relationship between the density of metastable helium atoms and the plasma discharge current is observed. Magnetic field plays a very important role in producing a high density of metastable atoms in Penning discharge.     

Generation of Very Energetic Ions from Intense Femtosecond Laser Interactions with Rare Gas Clusters in a Dense Jet

Very energetic ions, which are detected by time-of-flight spectrometry with maximum energy up to 1.3 MeV and an average energy of 68keV, are generated in the explosion of large Xe clusters in a dense jet irradiated with a high-intensity (～10^16 W/cm2) 50fs laser pulse from a Ti:sapphire TW laser at 79Ohm wavelength. The interaction of intense laser pulses with a jet of argon clusters is also performed and high average ion energies are observed. The dependence of energy of the ions on the gas backing pressure is examined, suggesting that the results are consistent with the absorption efficiency of the laser energy by the cluster plasmas.     

Energetic Ion Effects on the Ion Saturation Current

The ion saturation current is very important in probe theory, which can be used to measure the electron temperature and the floating potential. In this work, the effects of energetic ions on the ion saturation current are studied via particle-in-cell simulations. It is found that the energetic ions and background ions can be treated separately as different species, and they satisfy their individual Bohm criterion at the sheath edge. It is shown that the energetic ions can significantly affect the ion saturation current if their concentration is greater than T_e/(γi2 T_(i2))~(1/2), where Te is the electron temperature, and γ_(i2) and T_(i2) represent the polytropic coefficient and temperature of energetic ions, respectively. As a result, the floating potential and the I V characteristic profile are strongly influenced by the energetic ions. When the energetic ion current dominates the ion saturation current, an analysis of the ion saturation current will yield the energetic ion temperature rather than the electron temperature.     

Influence of Inert Gas Pressure on Growing Rate of Nanocrystalline Silicon Film Prepared by Pulsed Laser Deposition

Nanocrystalline silicon film (nc-Si) was prepared by pulsed laser deposition in different inert gas atmospheres such as He, Ne and Ar. The influence of inert gas pressure on growing rate of the film was investigated. The results show that with increasing gas pressure, growing rate first increases and reaches its maximum and then decreases; the gas pressure at the maximum of growing rate is proportional to the reciprocal of atomic mass of gas. The rate maximum is 0.315 A/pulse when He gas pressure is 8.3 Pa. The dynamic process is analysed theoretically by means of resputtering from the film surface and scattering of ablated particles. Ehrthermore, our results are compared with those in the case of Ag target.     

利用HIRFL高能重离子束的核能材料辐照损伤研究

载能重离子与高能中子在材料中能够产生相似的级联碰撞损伤,加之重离子具有大的离位损伤截面和在材料样品中低的感生放射性,载能重离子束成为模拟先进核能装置内部结构材料辐照损伤的重要手段。HIRFL能区的重离子在结构材料中的射程一般远大于晶粒尺寸,因此能够产生材料体损伤,借助小样品技术可以获得材料力学性能变化（尤其辐照脆化）的有用信息,为探讨材料辐照损伤微结构和宏观力学性能变化的关联提供了重要条件。本文简要介绍了近年来我们基于HIRFL高能离子束开展的聚变堆候选材料辐照损伤的研究,包括低活化钢的辐照脆化行为、氧化物弥散强化（ODS）铁素体钢的结构优化对于抗辐照性能的影响、不同载能粒子辐照条件下铁素体/马氏体钢的辐照肿胀数据的关联,以及高能重离子辐照的钨材料中氢同位素的滞留行为。研究表明,结合特殊的测试技术及数据分析方法,高能重离子可作为核能结构材料辐照损伤研究及评估的有效手段。Because of the similarity in cascade damage structure in materials produced by energetic heavy ions and by fast neutrons, and the high displacement rate and low induced radioactivity of samples by heavy ions, heavy ion beam becomes an important tool to simulate radiation damage by energetic neutrons in materials in advanced nuclear energy systems. The ranges of heavy ions provided by HIRFL (Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou) are generally much larger than the mean dimensions of grains in alloys candidate to advanced nuclear reactors, and is capable of producing radiation damage in bulk scale. It therefore makes possible the evaluation of change of mechanical properties including the radiation induced embrittlement from the irradiated specimens by using miniaturized specimen techniques. In the present paper, we provide an introduction of our recent studies of radiation damage of materials candidate to future fusion reactors by utilizing heavy ion beams in HIRFL.The studies include issues as follows:ductility loss of RAFM steels causes by high-energy Ne ions, impact of oxide dispersoids on the radiation resistance of ODS ferritic steels, correlation of void swelling of ferritic/martensitic steels under different particle irradiation, and behavior of deuterium retention in tungsten under irradiation with high-energy heavy ions. The results show that high-energy heavy ions can be used as a tool to efficiently investigate or evaluate radiation damage in structure materials if combined with some special test techniques and data analysis.     

Influence of shielding gas pressure on welding characteristics in CO2 laser-MIG hybrid welding process

The droplet transfer behavior and weld characteristics have been investigated under different pressures of shielding gas in CO2 laser and metal inert/active gas (laser-MIG) hybrid welding process. The experimental results indicate that the inherent droplet transfer frequency and stable welding range of conventional MIG arc are changed due to the interaction between CO2 laser beam and MIG arc in laser-MIG hybrid welding process, and the shielding gas pressure has a crucial effect on welding characteristics. When the pressure of shielding gas is low in comparison with MIG welding, the frequency of droplet transfer decreases, and the droplet transfer becomes unstable in laser-MIG hybrid welding. So the penetration depth decreases, which shows the characteristic of unstable hybrid welding. However, when the pressure of shielding gas increases to a critical value, the hybrid welding characteristic is changed from unstable hybrid welding to stable hybrid welding, and the frequency of droplet transfer and the penetration depth increase significantly.     

Projectile angular-differential cross sections for single electron transfer in fast He~+-He collisions

The four-body Coulomb–Born distorted wave approximation is applied to investigate the integral as well as projectile angular-differential cross sections for single-electron capture in the collision of energetic singly positive charged helium ions with helium atoms in their ground states. The formalism satisfies the correct boundary conditions. The influence of the dynamic electron correlations on the cross sections is studied by considering the inter electronic interactions in the complete perturbation potentials in post form. Also, the sensitivity of the cross sections to the static electronic correlations is studied by using the single-zeta and the highly correlated Byron–Joachain wave functions to describe the initial bound state of the active electrons. The obtained results for the energy range of 40–5000 ke V/amu are reported and compared with other three- and four-body theoretical data and available experimental measurements. The comparison leads us to discuss the validity of the applied approach and survey the interaction effects on the cross sections by recognizing the electron–electron interaction. Particularly, for differential cross sections, the comparison of the present four-body method with the experiment shows that the agreement is not as good as that for its three-body version.     

Theoretical analysis of ion kinetic energies and DLC film deposition by CH4＋ Ar （He） dielectric barrier discharge plasmas

The kinetic energy of ions in dielectric barrier discharge plasmas are analysed theoretically using the model of binary collisions between ions and gas molecules. Langevin equation for ions in other gases, Blanc law for ions in mixed gases, and the two-temperature model for ions at higher reduced field are used to determine the ion mobility. The kinetic energies of ions in CH4 ＋ Ar（He） dielectric barrier discharge plasma at a fixed total gas pressure and various Ar （He） concentrations are calculated. It is found that with increasing Ar （He） concentration in CH4 ＋ Ar （He） from 20% to 83%, the CH4＋ kinetic energy increases from 69.6 （43.9） to 92.1 （128.5）eV, while the Ar＋ （He＋） kinetic energy decreases from 97 （145.2） to 78.8 （75.5）eV. The increase of CH4＋ kinetic energy is responsible for the increase of hardness of diamond-like carbon films deposited by CH4 ＋ Ar （He） dielectric barrier discharge without bias voltage over substrates.     

Band （5,0） in the Red System A^2Π1—X^2Σ^＋ of CN Studied by Optical Heterodyne Magnetic Rotation Enhanced Oncentration Modulation Spectroscopy

We study the CN radical using optical heterodyne magnetic rotation enhanced concentration modulation apectroscopy in the visible region.The radical has been produced in the ac glow discharge of acetonitrile with helium as the carrier gas.The (5,0) hand of the red system A^2Π1-X^2Σ^ in the range 17450-17830cm^-1 has been observed and rotationally analysed.We determine a set of precise molecular constants for the υ=5 vibrational level of CN in the A^2Π1 state.     

Dissociation and Coulomb Explosion of H2^4＋ in S^q＋ ＋H2 Collisions

We have investigated fragment emission from molecularions in H2^r collisions between S^q and H2 with incident energies of 12.5, 15.625, 18.75, 21.875, 25, 28.125, 31.25, 34.375, 37.5, 40.625, and 43.75 keV/u, respectively. The energy distributions of the fragments are measured by time-of-flight techniques. The experimental results show evidences for molecular Coulomb explosion and dissociation. A program[1] is estab-lished based on the Monte Carlo technique to simulate the time-of-flight spectrum of fragment ions with different initialkinetic energy in ion-Molecule collisions. Simulations are done for S^2 H2 collisions and compared with experimental results.     

Optical planar waveguides in yb3＋-doped phosphate glasses produced by He＋ ion implantation

Optical planar waveguides in Yb 3+-doped phosphate glasses are fabricated by implanting triple-energy helium ions. The guiding modes and the near-field intensity distribution are measured by using the prism-coupling method and the end-face coupling setup with a He-Ne laser at 633 nm The intensity calculation method (ICM) is used to reconstruct the refractive index profile of the waveguide. The absorption and the fluorescence investigations reveal that the glass bulk features are well preserved in the active volumes of the waveguides, suggesting the fabricated structures for possible applications as waveguide lasers.