Beyond DPA: An Atomistic Framework for a Quantitative Description of Radiation Damage in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7

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Authors: Federico Ledda, Daniele Torsello, Davide Gambino, Flyura Djurabekova, Fabio Calzavara, Niccolò Di Eugenio, Ville Jantunen, Antonio Trotta, Erik Gallo, K. Nordlund, F. Laviano
Cited by: 1
References: 35

Abstract

Radiation damage in high‐temperature cuprate superconductors represents one of the main technological challenges for their deployment in harsh environments, such as fusion reactors and accelerator facilities.Their complex crystal structure makes modeling irradiation effects in this class of materials a particularly demanding task, for which existing damage models remain inadequate.In this work, we develop an atomistic‐based approach for describing primary radiation damage in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 , by coupling molecular dynamics and binary collision approximation simulations in a way that makes them complementary. When integrated with primary knock‐on atom spectra obtained from Monte Carlo codes, our results establish a framework for multiscale modeling of radiation damage, enabling quantitative estimates of several damage descriptors, such as defect production, defect clustering, and the effective damaged volume for any specific irradiation conditions where collision cascades dominate. This computational approach is suitable for the prediction of irradiation effects in any complex functional oxide, with applications ranging from aerospace to nuclear fusion and high‐energy physics.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Fusion materials and technologies Nuclear Materials and Properties Nuclear materials and radiation effects

Publication details

Journal / source
Small Science
Publisher
Wiley
Volume
6
Issue
5
Pages
e70303–e70303
Publication date
1 May 2026
Language
EN