Structures and effects of radiation damage in cuprate superconductors irradiated with several-hundred-MeV heavy ions.

This paper reports a study of the nature and systematic variation of radiation damage to cuprate superconductors caused by several-hundred-MeV heavy ions. While irradiation of YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ with 300-MeV Au 24+ and 276-MeV Ag 21+ ions produces columns of amorphous material along the ion trajectories, such defects are only created occasionally during irradiation with 236-MeV Cu 18+ and not induced with 182-MeV Si 13+