Probing the Short-Range Ordering of Ion Irradiated Gd2Ti2-yZryO7 (0.0 ≤ y ≤ 2.0) Pyrochlore under Electronic Stopping Regime

Abstract

A series of Gd2Ti2-yZryO7 (0.0 ≤ y ≤ 2.0) solid solutions has been synthesized by a solid-state process using a three-stage heating protocol. Raman spectroscopy was used to investigate the structural modification with an increasing Zr content in pristine samples. Short-range ordering or local disorder around cationic sites was investigated in irradiated samples with 120 MeV Au+9 ions by Raman spectroscopy. Phase transformation was observed in Zr-rich pyrochlore compositions due to the anion disordering around the cationic sites in pristine samples. Moreover, SHI irradiation-driven phase transformation was observed dominantly in Zr-rich compositions due to cation disordering. Like XRD analysis in the previous study, the present study provides information about the higher efficacy of Zr-rich composition towards SHI-induced disordered transformation with very little amorphization. Since Raman spectroscopy is able to observe the polyhedral structure of AO8 and BO6 even at nanoscale also, therefore, this study shows relatively smaller SHI induced disordered ion tracks as compared to XRD analysis. Thus, the short-range ordering becomes important to investigate the local order-disorder transformation on SHI irradiation.