The super-atomic structure of synthetic quartz single crystals with dislocation densities of ρ = 54 and 570/cm2 was studied in the initial state and after irradiation with fast neutrons with energies greater than 0.1MeV, in a reactor, to fluences ranging from 0.2 x 1017 to 5.0 x 1018/cm2. Weak irradiation to a fluence of 0.2 x 1017/cm2 caused only slight structural changes, whereas appreciable generation of defects with radii of gyration rg = 1 to 2nm and RG = 40 to 50nm occurred at fluences of 7.7 x 1017 to 5.0 x 1018/cm2. As the fluence was further increased, the number and volume fraction of point defects, as well as extended (channels some 2nm in radius) and globular (amorphous phase nuclei) defects, increased.

Small-Angle Neutron Scattering Study of Radiation Defects in Synthetic Quartz. V.M.Lebedev, V.T.Lebedev, S.P.Orlov, B.Z.Pevzner, I.N.Tolstikhin: Physics of the Solid State, 2006, 48[4], 678-85