Borosilicate glass potentials for radiation damage simulations

The displacement energy thresholds are generally lower than those for ionic crystalline materials, but show a wider spread of values. However, the barriers for atomic rearrangements, after atoms have been displaced in the equilibrium structures, are very high. This indicates, that the radiation damage produced in the ballistic phase of a collision cascade, is likely to persist for extended time scales. This is in contrast to crystals, where interstitials and vacancies can diffuse rapidly between successive radiation events.