The microscopic model of material excitation in swift heavy ion tracks

Abstract

AbstractThe paper presents a quantitative model describing the kinetics of the electronic and ionic subsystems of a target along the trajectory of a swift heavy ion (SHI) decelerated in the electronic stopping regime. Electron‐to‐lattice energy and momentum transfer is described within the dynamic structure factor (DSF) formalism which takes into account different extreme cases of dynamic correlations in the ionic system of a target in a relaxing SHI track. The DSF approach gives an ability to merge Monte‐Carlo and Molecular‐Dynamics approaches simulating the kinetics of the electron ensemble and the lattice, respectively, into a unified model. This hybrid model predicts a little heating of the lattice in SHI tracks in LiF crystals that agrees well with the experiment‐based estimation of this heating. The developed tool can be used for modeling of the kinetics of highly exited material states in swift heavy ion tracks and/or laser spots. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)