Phase transformations induced by swift heavy ions in the new high Tc copper oxides

Since the discovery of high Tc superconductivity in ternary copper oxides many studies of irradiation damage in these materials have been performed. By contrast with electrons and fast neutrons which produce defect by elastic collisions, swift heavy ions (E>1 GeV) induce changes by inelastic collisions because of electronic stopping powers about 2000 times higher than nuclear stopping powers over 90% of the ion path. The purpose of this paper is to report on recent experimental results obtained for high Tc copper oxides irradiated by 2.9 GeV-Krypton ions and 3.5 GeV-Xenon ions. (author)