Response of Gd2Ti2O7 and La2Ti2O7 to swift-heavy ion irradiation and annealing

Swift heavy ion (2 GeV 181Ta) irradiation-induced amorphization and temperature-induced recrystallization of cubic pyrochlore Gd2Ti2O7 (Fd3¯m) are compared with the response of a compositionally-similar material with a monoclinic-layered perovskite-type structure, La2Ti2O7 (P21). The averaged electronic energy loss, dE/dx, was 37 keV/nm and 35 keV/nm in Gd2Ti2O7 and La2Ti2O7, respectively. Systematic analysis of the structural modifications was completed using transmission electron microscopy, synchrotron X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and small-angle X-ray scattering. Increasing ion-induced amorphization with increasing ion fluence was evident in the X-ray diffraction patterns of both compositions by a reduction in the intensity of the diffraction maxima concurrent with the growth in intensity of a broad diffuse scattering halo. Transmission electron microscopy analysis showed complete amorphization within ion tracks (diameter: ∼10 nm) for the perovskite-type material; whereas a concentric, core–shell morphology was evident in the ion tracks of the pyrochlore, with an outer shell of disordered yet still crystalline material with the fluorite structure surrounding an amorphous track core (diameter: ∼9 nm). The radiation response of both titanate oxides with the same stoichiometry can be understood in terms of differences in their structures and compositions. While the radiation damage susceptibility of pyrochlore A2B2O7 materials decreases as a function of the cation radius ratio rA/rB, the current study correlates this behavior with the stability field of monoclinic structures, where rLa/rTi > rGd/rTi. Isochronal annealing experiments of the irradiated materials showed complete recrystallization of La2Ti2O7 at 775 °C and of Gd2Ti2O7 at 850 °C. The annealing behavior is discussed in terms of enhanced damage recovery in La2Ti2O7, compared to the pyrochlore compounds Gd2Ti2O7. The difference in the recrystallization behavior may be related to structural constraints, i.e., reconstructing a low symmetry versus a high symmetry phase.