Structural stability of C-60 films under irradiation with swift heavy ions

In order to investigate the structural stability of fullerene (C-60) under swift heavy ion irradiation, the irradiation experiments of thin C-60 films were performed with 22 MeV/amu Fe-56 ions delivered by HIRFL at Lanzhou in China. The irradiated C-60 films were analyzed by means of Raman scattering and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopes. The analysis results indicated that the damage cross-sections or of the C-60 molecule deduced from the data of the Raman spectra are between 1.1 and 4.5 x 10(-14) cm(2) for the electronic energy loss from 3.5 to 8.7 keV/nm and electronic energy transfer dominates the damage process of C-60 films. The partial recovery of the damage in irradiated C-60 films at certain electronic energy loss is attributed to an annealing effect of strong electronic excitation. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.