Energy Loss for Swift Heavy Ions in Polymers: A New Approach for Effective Charge Parameterization

t is well established that the properties of the materials can be tailored as per specific requirements as a result of swift heavy ion irradiation. This is because of the radiation damage induced changes in the properties of the materials as a result of the energy loss process of the incident ions along their trajectory. In order to correlate such induced changes with the energy loss of the impinging ions, the exact evaluation of energy loss for swift ions in different materials is extremely important. Keeping in mind the polymers as versatile materials, in the present work, we have focused on energy loss calculations for swift heavy ions with Z= 3-29 in different polymeric absorbers, e.g. Polypropylene PP (C3H6), Polycarbonate PC (C16H14O3), Polyethylene terepthalate PET (C10H8O4), Polyethylene naphthalate PEN (C7H5O2), Diethylene glycol bis (allyl carbonate) CR-39 (C12H18O7), Cellulose nitrate LR-115 (C6H9O9N2) and Polypyromellitimide KAPTON (C22H10O5N2) in the energy range 0.5-6.00 MeV/n. The present calculations have been made by employing the proper energy loss formulation applicable both at low as well as high energies, involving a new approach for effective charge parameterization without any empirical/semi-empirical means. A close agreement between these calculated and experimentally measured values has been observed. Such calculations will provide an input towards the modeling or simulation for swift heavy ion induced changes in the properties of materials.