Radiation damages in CeO2 thin films irradiated with ions having the same nuclear stopping and different electronic stopping powers

In order to characterize a possible modification due to high-density electronic excitation, thin films of CeO2 have been irradiated with 10-MeV Ni and 120-MeV Xe ions, both having the same nuclear stopping powers, while having different electronic stopping powers. The comparison of the fluence dependence of X-ray diffraction (XRD) peaks suggests that the defect production cross section for 120-MeV Xe is nearly one order of magnitude higher than that for 10-MeV Ni. The comparative study demonstrates the prominent damage observed for 120-MeV Xe irradiation is due to high electronic energy deposition.