Thin films were bombarded with 23MeV C60 and 24MeV Au5 ion clusters, using a tandem accelerator. It was found that the defect production effect of C60 ion clusters in the Bi2Cu2Sr2CaO8 exceeded that of 238U ions with an energy of 2.7GeV. An analysis of defect production mechanisms predicted differing conclusions. In the case of C60 ion clusters, there was found to be an independence of the nuclear and electronic contributions to defect production; as in the case of atomic projectiles. In the case of Au5 ion clusters, this independence was lost. It was suggested that, in the latter case, nuclear defects were annealed out by electronic energy losses. The magnitudes of the effective damage radii which were obtained for Bi2Cu2Sr2CaO8 films were thought to indicate that continuous tracks were formed in these films by both sorts of ion cluster bombardment.

C.Tomaschko, C.Schoppmann, M.Kraus, K.Kragler, G.Kreiselmeyer, G.Saemann-Ischenko, H.Voit, A.Brunelle, S.Della-Negra, Y.LeBeyec: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 1996, 117[1-2], 90-4