Defect production in irradiated metals

Present knowledge of the processes involved in creating defects during cascade-producing irradiations is reviewed. Molecular dynamics simulations within the past few years have led to an understanding of the creation and survival of point defects in the critical first picoseconds of the cascade process, through the quenching of the thermal spike. The concept that 'freely migrating defects' arise only from isolated Frenkel pairs produced in a cascade is critically discussed