Physics of Radiation Damage

Catalog description

Radiation damage plays a pivotal role in materials design for radiation-intensive applications, such as in fission and fusion nuclear reactors. Atoms in solid materials can be displaced from their lattice sites due to interactions with energetic radiation particles, generating a variety of point defects and defect clusters that can profoundly modify the material properties, such as mechanical strength, dimensional stability, thermal conductivity, as well as electrical and optical properties. This course provides students with the fundamental theories and methodologies essential for the research of materials to be used in radiation-intensive environments. Key topics include: (1) theories for energy deposition from energetic particles into materials, (2) analytical models for atomic displacement and collision cascades, (3) kinetics of point defects and defect clusters, emphasizing rate theory and related models, and (4) defect-property relationship in materials.