Modification of BST ceramics using swift heavy ion beams

What is it about?

Paper discusses the effects of MeV range energetic ion beam irradiation on the structural and dielectric properties of barium strontium titanate ceramics- environmental friendly ferroelectric materials of immense technological importance. Temperature dependent Raman spectroscopy has been used to characterize the phonon modes that undergo changes during phase transition from cubic-tetragonal-orthorhombic-rhombohedral phases. The deconvoluted Raman band parameters are used to understand the phonon properties and the corresponding changes in the structure. The effect of swift heavy ions is attributed to the enegy deposition in Ba-O bonds preferentially and the disordering due t to ion -solid interaction ids demonstrated.

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Why is it important?

Paper is probably the first effort to under the microscopic mechanism of solid-ion interaction using the sensitive nature of Raman spectroscopic technique for subtle structural changes. It also demonstrate how the energy of ion beams can be used to modify the material's properties.

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