Abstract
Mössbauer spectroscopy of damage induced by energetic Ar, Kr, and Xe ions in the giga-electron-volt range in two ferrimagnetic oxides, and , is presented. The enhancement of the paramagnetic phase observed after an irradiation with high-energy deposition (Xe and Kr ions) compared to low-energy deposition (Ar ions) supports a damage mechanism based on the electronic stopping power. Threshold energy-deposition values close to 17 and 25 MeV have thus been determined for and , respectively. Furthermore, drastic changes in the bulk orientation of the hyperfine magnetic field have been observed in yttrium iron garnet: The distribution is isotropic for Ar irradiations and anisotropic for Xe irradiations, while two types of distributions are observed for Kr irradiations, depending on the values of the deposited energy compared to that of the threshold energy. Comparison with latent-track models is performed.
- Received 24 November 1986
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.35.6560
©1987 American Physical Society