Velocity Effect in Synthesis of Noncircular Nanopores by Etching Tracks of Swift Heavy Ions in Olivine

The velocity effect was studied in the synthesis of nanopores with a noncircular cross section by etching tracks of swift heavy ions in olivine. The developed atomistic model for the etching of olivine irradiated with swift heavy ions predicts the possibility of synthesizing nanopores with a noncircular cross section in it. The model consists of connected blocks that describe the sequential stages of track formation and etching. The TREKIS Monte Carlo model describes the initial electronic and lattice excitations in the nanoscale vicinity of the trajectory of an incident ion. These results are used as initial conditions for molecular dynamics simulation of structural changes along the ion trajectory. The obtained atomic coordinates after cooling of the structurally damaged area serve as the initial data for the original atomistic model of track etching in olivine. The results of the model application show that it is possible to control the cross section of these pores by changing the orientation of the crystal relative to the direction of irradiation. The presented simulation results for Xe ions demonstrate that the size of the resulting pores depends on the velocity of the incident ion, and not only on its linear energy loss.