Characterization of dislocation loops in CeO2 irradiated with high energy Krypton and Xenon

Abstract

In order to fully characterize the structure of dislocation loops in CeO2, ion irradiations have been performed at 800 °C on CeO2 single-crystal thin films individually using 1 MeV Kr ions and 150 keV Xe ions, both to a dose of 5 × 1014 ions/cm2. Post-irradiation TEM examination, diffraction contrast imaging and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), has confirmed that the irradiation-induced dislocation loops in CeO2 were Frank loops, having an interstitial nature with {1 1 1} habit planes and a 1/3 Burgers vector. Dislocation loops were confirmed to be a stacking fault in nature through TEM observations of the interference fringes inside the loop periphery.