New insight into quantifying vacancy distribution in self-ion irradiated tungsten: a combined experimental and computational study

Abstract

In this work, we propose a new approach based on positron annihilation spectroscopy to estimate the concentration of vacancy-type defects induced by self-ion irradiation in tungsten at room temperature, 500, and 700°C. Using experimental and Two-component density functional theory calculated annihilation characteristics of various vacancy clusters V${}_n$ ($n$=1-65) and a positron trapping model associated with the simulated annealing algorithm, vacancy cluster concentration distribution could be extracted from experimental data. The method was validated against simulation results for room-temperature irradiation and transmission electron microscopy observations for higher temperatures. After irradiation at 500 and 700°C, small clusters (<20 vacancies, ~0.85 nm) undetectable by TEM were unveiled, with concentrations exceeding 10${}^{25}$ m${}^{-3}$, significantly higher than the concentration of TEM-visible defects (10${}^{24}$ m${}^{-3}$). Moreover, incorporating an oxygen-vacancy complex is deemed necessary to accurately replicate experimental data in samples subjected to high-temperature irradiation.