New applications of ion beams to material, space, and biological science and engineering

Fukuda, Mitsuhiro; Ito, Hisayoshi; Oshima, Takeshi; Saido, Masahiro; Tanaka, Atsushi

An ion beam has been widely applied to a variety of research fields of materials, space, and bio-sciences. Notable results, which were hard to obtain in applications of a ray and an electron beam, have been produced by the ion beam application. Ion beams interacting with matter have such superior properties as highly localized ionization and excitation, production of secondary particles, implantation of different atoms, and nuclear transmutation of constituent atoms. Skillful utilization of the ion beam properties makes remarkable progress in creation of new materials and precise investigation of matters. The ion beam irradiation research facility, TIARA, was established in 1993 at JAERI for extensive applications of ion beams. An accelerator complex provides light to heavy ion beams with a broad energy range from keV to GeV. Various ion beam technologies pioneering the ion beam applications have been developed at TIARA. In this paper, new applications of accelerated ion beams to material, space, and biological science and engineering carried out mainly at TIARA are reviewed.