Ion irradiation: A tool to study radiation damage in minerals

The impact of radioactivity (in particular recoils of heavy daughter nuclei upon emission of an alpha particle) may cause severe changes and damages to crystalline minerals, up to their complete amorphisation. Heavy-ion irradiation is used to investigate and quantify irradiation effects in orthosilicates and -phosphates. A new approach is discussed in the talk, namely, the irradiation of thin FIB foils whose thicknesses correspond to the penetration depth of the ions irradiated. Finally, examples are presented for how MeV helium irradiation is applied to study the so-called alpha haloes in rock-forming minerals. (author)