Microstructure of a heavily irradiated metal exposed to a spectrum of atomic recoils.

At temperatures below the onset of vacancy migration, metals exposed to energetic ions develop dynamically fluctuating steady-state microstructures. Statistical properties of these microstructures in the asymptotic high exposure limit are not universal and vary depending on the energy and mass of the incident ions. We develop a model for the microstructure of an ion-irradiated metal under athermal conditions, where internal stress fluctuations dominate the kinetics of structural evolution.

Directional Sensitivity in Light-Mass Dark Matter Searches with Single-Electron-Resolution Ionization Detectors.

We propose a method using solid state detectors with directional sensitivity to dark matter interactions to detect low-mass weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) originating from galactic sources. In spite of a large body of literature for high-mass WIMP detectors with directional sensitivity, no available technique exists to cover WIMPs in the mass range <1  GeV/c^{2}. We argue that single-electron-resolution semiconductor detectors allow for directional sensitivity once properly calibrated.

Improving atomic displacement and replacement calculations with physically realistic damage models.

Atomic collision processes are fundamental to numerous advanced materials technologies such as electron microscopy, semiconductor processing and nuclear power generation. Extensive experimental and computer simulation studies over the past several decades provide the physical basis for understanding the atomic-scale processes occurring during primary displacement events. The current international standard for quantifying this energetic particle damage, the Norgett-Robinson-Torrens displacements per atom (NRT-dpa) model, has nowadays several well-known limitations.