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.