Order–disorder phase transition induced by swift ions in MgAl2O4 and ZnAl2O4 spinels

Grazing X-ray diffraction was used to study in details the behaviour of two spinels, ZnAl2O4 and MgAl2O4 irradiated by swift ions. Such an irradiation allows to have an important irradiated depth and then accurate diffraction diagrams. Rietveld refinement done on these diagrams clearly show an order–disorder transition due to a melting of cations under irradiation in these two spinels. More especially, these results clearly exhibit that no new phase is created under irradiation in MgAl2O4. Raman spectroscopy, sensitive to the crystallographic space group, seems to confirm this analysis.