Investigation of helium ion damage on tungsten using secondary electron emission spectroscopy

Helium plasma exposure on tungsten can induce severe structural and chemical modifications, impacting crucial components in fusion reactors and high-radiation environments. In this study, we investigate helium-induced damage in tungsten using a combination of electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and a novel approach employing secondary electron energy spectroscopy (SEES). While conventional techniques such as electron microscopy and XPS reveal the formation of surface defects and subtle chemical changes, only SEES captures pronounced differences in the structural response of the material. Remarkably, SEES shows a ∼60% variation in signal intensity between helium-damaged and pristine tungsten surfaces, highlighting its unique sensitivity to surface related modifications. These findings demonstrate that SEES provides a method that possibly can quantify helium-induced damage in tungsten, offering new insights into defect evolution and the local surface structure that are inaccessible via traditional characterization techniques.