Quantifying Structural Damage From Self-Irradiation in a Plutonium Superconductor.

Booth, C. H. ; Bauer, E. D. ; Daniel, M. ; Wilson, R. E. ; Mitchell, J. N.

Technical Information Center Oak Ridge Tennessee

关键词: Plutonium;    Superconductors;    Self-irridiation;    PuCoGa5;    Radiation damage;   

RP-ID  :  DE2007917542

学科分类：工程和技术（综合）

美国|英语

来源: National Technical Reports Library

【 摘 要 】

The 18.5 K superconductor PuCoGa5 has many unusual properties, including those due to damage induced by self-irradiation. The superconducting transition temperature decreases sharply with time, suggesting a radiation-induced Frenkel defect concentration much larger than predicted by current radiation damage theories. Extended x-ray absorption fine-structure measurements demon- strate that while the local crystal structure in fresh material is well ordered, aged material is disordered much more strongly than expected from simple defects, consistent with strong disorder throughout the damage cascade region. These data highlight the potential impact of local lattice distortions relative to defects on the properties of irradiated materials and underscore the need for more atomic-resolution structural comparisons between radiation damage experiments and theory.