Diamond degradation in hadron fields

TL;DR

This study calculates how proton and pion irradiation affect diamond's atomic structure across a wide energy range, revealing diamond's superior resistance compared to silicon and differing energy dependencies for each particle type.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed theoretical analysis of primary displacement concentrations in diamond caused by protons and pions over 50 MeV to 50 GeV.

Findings

Proton-induced displacements dominate at low energies.

Diamond is ten times more resistant than silicon to hadron irradiation.

Displacement concentrations vary significantly with particle energy.

Abstract

The energy dependence of the concentration of primary displacements induced by protons and pions in diamond has been calculated in the energy range 50 MeV - 50 GeV, in the frame of the Lindhard theory. The concentrations of primary displacements induced by protons and pions have completely different energy dependencies: the proton degradation is very important at low energies, and is higher than the pion one in the whole energy range investigated, with the exception of the delta33 resonance region. Diamond has been found, theoretically, to be one order of magnitude more resistant to proton and pion irradiation in respect to silicon.