Depth profiles of damage creation and hardening in MgO irradiated with GeV heavy ions

The effect of irradiation with GeV heavy ions (U, Au, Bi) on the structure and mechanical properties of MgO single crystals was studied. The methods of nanoindentation, dislocation mobility, optical absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy were used for damage characterization. The ion-induced increase of hardness and reduction of dislocation mobility was observed. The depth profiles of hardness, dislocation mobility and PL were investigated, and the contribution of electronic and nuclear loss mechanisms was confirmed. The efficiency of damage vs. average absorbed energy for heavy and light ions was compared. The change in the mechanism of plastic deformation at indentation was observed after severe irradiation due to the immobilization of dislocations by ion-induced extended defects. The results show that MgO single crystals maintain integrity and micro-plasticity at indentation, and exhibit improved hardness after irradiation with swift heavy ions at fluences up to 7 × 10¹³ ions/cm².