Sensitivity of Anatase and Rutile Phases of TiO to ion irradiation: Examination of the applicability of Coulomb Explosion and Thermal Spike Models.

Sensitivity of the anatase and rutile phases of titanium dioxide to Swift Heavy Ion (SHI) irradiation was experimentally probed and compared with the predictions of the Coulomb explosion, analytical and inelastic thermal spike models of ion-matter interaction. Conforming to the predictions of all these models, our study indicated higher sensitivity of anatase to these ions than the rutile phase. A detailed examination however revealed that Coulomb explosion model cannot explain either the nature of variation of the interaction cross section of SHI with the energy deposited by these ions, S to the target electrons, or the relative values of the threshold electronic energy loss, S of anatase and rutile.