Combining ion beam heating, ion irradiation, and infrared imaging enables in situ characterization of radiation damage-dependent thermal properties

This study investigates a novel method for in situ characterization of thermal properties of solids during ion irradiation experiments. In this method, a focused proton beam creates a localized hot spot, and upon deactivation, an infrared (IR) camera captures the subsequent lateral heat dissipation patterns. When analyzed in conjunction with finite element analysis , the material’s thermal properties can be extracted. By alternating between ion irradiation (using a large beam spot) and focused beam heating (using a small, collimated beam spot), it is feasible to obtain thermal property changes as a function of radiation damage in a single specimen. In this study, 2 MeV proton irradiation/beam heating, IR imaging, and finite element analysis were utilized to examine thermal diffusivity in single-crystal quartz across a range of temperatures and radiation doses. Notably, the results revealed that thermal diffusivity initially increases before decreasing as a function of radiation damage at room temperature.