Thin films of the superconductor were bombarded with I ions (80 to 90MeV) at 12 to 281K. In order to determine the diameter of, and the resistivity within, columnar defects, the ion-fluence dependence of the resistivity was measured in situ at 100 and 281K. Bombardment at 281K resulted in the production of columnar defects having much higher inner resistivities and smaller diameters than did those produced by bombardment at 100K. The difference in defect structures for the 2 bombardment treatments could be explained as being due to a difference in the stability of the defects which were produced mainly by electronic excitation. The results of annealing at up to room temperature, after bombardment at 100K, supported this explanation. Bombardment at 50 or 12K (below the superconducting transition temperature) did not lead to effects which were different to those which resulted from bombardment above the transition temperature.

Irradiation Temperature Dependence of Swift Heavy Ion Induced Defects in Oxide Superconductor EuBa2Cu3Oy. N.Ishikawa, Y.Chimi, A.Iwase, H.Wakana, O.Michikami: Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research B, 2000, 164-165, 384-90