Thermal Diffusivity in Ion-irradiated Single-crystal Iron, Chromium, Vanadium & Tungsten Measured Using Transient Grating Spectroscopy

The speed-up of radiation science development with the advent of ion-irradiation experiments has, until recently, been omitted in post-irradiation examination technique. This paper reports the results of transient grating spectroscopy - a rapid, non-destructive, in-situ photothermal surface technique - of ion-irradiated single-crystals of iron, chromium, vanadium and tungsten at room temperature. Thermal diffusivity was used to track damage development throughout irradiation, with 5 MeV self-ion irradiated iron, chromium and vanadium showing little to no change up to damages of the order of 1 dpa. 5 MeV Si3+-ion irradiated tungsten exhibits a reduction of thermal diffusivity from 0.78(7) cm2s−1 to 0.29(2) cm2s−1 with logarithmically increasing dose over a similar damage range. A comparison to literature of transient grating spectroscopy thermal diffusivity values past and present shows a good agreement; radiation-induced change can be clearly distinguished from differences between mono- and poly-crystalline tungsten.