Modeling defect production in silica glass due to energetic recoils using molecular dynamics simulations

Silica is one of the candidate materials for final focusing mirrors in inertial fusion reactors. These materials will be exposed to high irradiation fluxes during operation. Radiation damage results in point defects that can lead to obscuration, that is, degradation of the optical properties of these materials. A basic understanding of defect production and migration in these materials is, however, limited. In this paper we present molecular dynamics simulations of defect production in silica glass due to energetic recoils. We compute the oxygen deficient centers generated during irradiation at energies between 1 and 5 keV and identify the mechanisms for production and recombination at short time scales.