Radiation-induced defects in proton-irradiated copper chloride

The results on investigation, using free and bound exciton secondary emission (SE) at 4-200 K, of 0.5 MeV proton beam induced defects in CuCl crystals, the fluence range being 1013-1017 cm-2, are presented. Radiation from polished and etched surfaces of copper chloride crystal was excited by N2-laser sharp-focused radiation beam providing for excitation level (G) upto 1030 cm-1. Comparative study of initial and irradiated CuCl crystal SE spectra in a wide range of excitation levels permitted to obtain reliable data on the mechanism of this compound radiolysis. Low values of proton fluences causing radiolysis, detected by the experiment annealing of radiation-induced defects while storaging the samples under normal conditions, permit to use copper chloride as a material for ionizing radiation dosimeters