Irradiation externe aux ions lourds de céramiques et vitrocéramiques d'apatite silicatée au néodyme

International audienceThis work aims at comparing the damage induced in the Nd silicate apatite ceramic (Ca2Nd8(SiO4)6O2) by medium energy (ME) and swift heavy ion (SHI) irradiations to evaluate the effects of nuclear collisions and intense electronic excitations for ME ions and SHI ions respectively. The macroscopic induced changes were studied as a function of the fluence by swelling and hardness measurements, whereas structural modifications were followed by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and grazing incidence EXAFS (Nd L3-edge). At ME (1.9-6.75 MeV Au ions), radiation-induced amorphization occurred above 6.22x10 13 Au/cm 2 associated with a volume expansion of about 8% and a drop of 37% in hardness. At SHI (90 MeV Xe ions or 35 MeV Ar ions), similar macroscopic and structural changes were observed. The electronic stopping power threshold of Nd silicate apatite for amorphization was assessed at about Se = 5 keV/nm