Neutral atom sputtering yields from Gd 3Ga 5O 12 and Y 3Fe 5O 12 garnets: Observation of a velocity effect

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The effects of swift heavy ions in insulators, leading e.g. to the appearance of latent tracks, have been extensively studied. In particular, it has been shown that at a fixed value of electronic stopping power the damage cross-section in the yttrium iron garnet (Y 3Fe 5O 12) is larger for low energy ions than for high energy ions. This is the so-called “velocity effect” in the damage creation in the electronic stopping power regime. In order to verify if such a velocity effect also exists for atoms sputtering, the total sputtering yields of yttrium iron garnet (Y 3Fe 5O 12) and gadolinium gallium garnet (Gd 3Ga 5O 12) irradiated at high energy with a lead beam of 19.3 MeV/u, were measured using the catcher technique. The sputtered particles, were collected upon an aluminum foil placed in front of the target and the impurities deposited on the collectors were analysed by Rutherford backscattering. By comparison with previous measurements of the sputtering yield for the same electronic energy loss value at lower velocity, we clearly observed an important velocity effect: the sputtering yield is higher at low velocity than at high velocity.