Structural and microstructural tailoring of rare earth sesquioxides by swift heavy ion irradiation

The structural transformations induced in Gd2O3 and Eu2O3 irradiated with high-energy ions (94-MeV Pb and 1042-MeV Xe), where ionization processes (electronic stopping) dominate the ion slowing-down, have been studied via the combination of XRD and Raman experiments. Irradiation induces a cubic-to-monoclinic phase transformation; the radiation-induced monoclinic phase shows strong preferential orientation. This structural modification is accompanied by changes in the photoluminescence properties of sesquioxides. The results show that swift heavy ion irradiation is a powerful tool to control the properties of oxides at the nanoscale.