Surface modification of LiNbO3 and KTa1−xNbxO3 crystals irradiated by intense pulsed ion beam

Abstract

In this work, we studied the surface modification of LiNbO3 and KTa1−xNbxO3 irradiated by intense pulsed ion beam, which was mainly composed of H+ (70%) and Cn+ (30%) at an acceleration voltage of about 450kV. The surface morphologies, microstructural evolution and elemental analysis of the sample surfaces after IPIB irradiation have been analyzed by scanning electron microscope, atomic force microscope, X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive spectrometer techniques, respectively. The results show that the surface morphologies have significant difference impacted by the irradiation effect. Regular gully damages range from 200 to 400nm in depth appeared in LiNbO3 under 2J/cm2 energy density for 1 pulse, block cracking appeared in KTa1−xNbxO3 at the same condition. Surface of the crystals have melted and were darkened with the increasing number up to 5 pulses. Crystal lattice arrangement is believed to be the dominant reason for the different experimental results irradiated by intense pulsed ion beam.