Direct imaging of end-of-range compaction in ion beam irradiated silica waveguides by atomic force microscopy

Abstract

The end-of-range compaction induced by megaelectronvolt proton irradiation of fused silica has been imaged by atomic force microscopy. A maximum surface compaction of 50 nm was measured for an ion dose of 4.0×1015 ions cm-2. A linear correlation between ion dose and compaction has been observed in the range of 1.0 to 4.0×1016 ions cm-2. When the samples were left at room temperature over a period of several months, the amount of compaction appeared to decrease significantly which suggests some temporal annealing of the waveguides has occurred. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.