Radiation Effects in Solids

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Radiation Effects in Solids, held in Erice, Sicily, Italy, 17-29 July 2004

---

The purpose of this book is to provide students with a comprehensive overview of fundamental principles and relevant technical issues associated with the behavior of solids exposed to high-energy radiation. These issues are important to the development of materials for existing fission reactors or future fusion and advanced reactors for energy production; to the development of electronic devices such as high-energy detectors; and to the development of novel materials for electronic and photonic applications (particularly on the nanoscale). The book details a broad range of topics falling into three general categories: (i) radiation damage fundamentals; (ii) materials dependent radiation damage phenomena; (iii) special topics (including swift ion irradiation effects, nanostructure design via irradiation, radiation detectors, and many other topics). This book serves to demonstrate the crucial interplay between experimental and theoretical investigations of radiation damage phenomena.
The book explores computer simulation methods for the examination of radiation effects, ranging from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of events occurring on short timescales (ps - ns), to methods such as kinetic Monte Carlo and kinetic rate theory, which consider damage evolution over times ranging from s to hours beyond the initial damage event. The book also examines some of the experimental techniques used to assess radiation damage accumulation in solids, including transmission electron microscopy, ion channeling, nanoindentation, and positron annihilation, to name only a few techniques.