Fluctuation mechanism of formation of discontinuous tracks by fast ions in solids

The effect of one-electron and many-electron charge-exchange processes involving fast heavy ions on the formation of tracks in crystals is considered. The proposed model of fluctuations of charge distributions gives reasonable estimates for the length of defects regions and the distance between defects in discontinuous tracks. The modified model of a thermal peak predicts the track radius. The validity of the model for explaining all the properties of formation of discontinuous and continuous tracks is demonstrated by the example of InP crystals irradiated by 250-MeV xenon ions. (C) 2002 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".