Study of Xe+-irradiation effect on yttria-stabilized zirconia single crystals

A transparent yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) single crystal becomes purple after 200 keV Xe+-irradiation. Calculation of TRIM 96 shows that 200 keV Xe+ ions cause peak displacement levels of ∼350 dpa (displacement per atom) at the depth of 30 nm in a YSZ single crystal at a dose of 1 x 1017 cm-2, and cross-sectional TEM images and diffraction pattern show that there is no amorphization. Optical absorption measurements show that a broad absorption band appears at a dose of 1 x 1016 cm-2. For the 1 x 1016 cm-2 and 1 x 1017 cm-2 Xe+-irradiated crystals, the absorption bands are centered at 522 nm and 497 nm, respectively. The bands are assigned to electrons trapped at oxygen vacancies nearest to Zr cations (F-type centers) and to oxygen ions with trap holes adjacent to yttria cations (V-type centers)