Development of a versatile, high-temperature, high-throughput ion irradiation system

Ion irradiation has long been used as a surrogate for neutron irradiation experiments which are comparatively slower, more expensive, and often can leave materials activated and difficult to handle post-irradiation. However, with the growing use of combinatorial synthesis methods and high-throughput, automated characterization techniques, ion irradiation facilities will need to upgrade their capabilities to be able to accommodate these new material platforms. To address this challenge, a high-throughput ion irradiation system has been developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Ion Beam Laboratory (IBL). The system is capable of accommodating large sample arrays of arbitrary geometries and heat samples individually using an infrared laser to enable high-temperature, high-throughput ion irradiation while mitigating the risk of annealing the irradiation damage in nearby samples. To control stage motion, laser power, and beam current measurement, among other tasks, the program Chronos was developed which enables automated high-throughput irradiation experiments.

Automated summary

Ion irradiation has been used as a substitute for neutron irradiation experiments due to their faster speed and lower cost, but ion irradiation facilities need to upgrade to accommodate new material platforms. The University of Wisconsin-Madison developed a high-throughput ion irradiation system that can handle a large number of samples and uses infrared laser heating to achieve high-temperature, high-throughput irradiation.