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Publications in Scientific Journals:

E. Gruber, P. Salou, L. Bergen, M. El Kharrazi, E. Lattouf, C. Grygiel, Y. Wang, A. Benyagoub, D. Levavasseur, J. Rangama, H. Lebius, B. Ban-DŽEtat, M. Schleberger, F. Aumayr:
"Swift heavy ion irradiation of CaF2 - from grooves to hillocks in a single ion track";
Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 28 (2016), 4050011 - 4050017.



English abstract:
A novel form of ion-tracks, namely nanogrooves and hillocks, are observed on CaF2 after
irradiation with xenon and lead ions of about 100 MeV kinetic energy. The irradiation is
performed under grazing incidence (0.3°-3°) which forces the track to a region in close
vicinity to the surface. Atomic force microscopy imaging of the impact sites with high spatial
resolution reveals that the surface track consists in fact of three distinct parts: each swift
heavy ion impacting on the CaF2 surface first opens a several 100 nm long groove bordered
by a series of nanohillocks on both sides. The end of the groove is marked by a huge single
hillock and the further penetration of the swift projectile into deeper layers of the target is
accompanied by a single protrusion of several 100 nm in length slowly fading until the track
vanishes.
By comparing experimental data for various impact angles with results of a simulation,
based on a three-dimensional version of the two-temperature-model (TTM), we are able to
link the crater and hillock formation to sublimation and melting processes of CaF2 due to the
local energy deposition by swift heavy ions.

Keywords:
swift heavy ions, grazing incidence, nanostructure formation, CaF2

Created from the Publication Database of the Vienna University of Technology.