Abstract
A swift ion passing through a crystal of KCl containing 12800 ions generates by ionisation and Auger cascade a linear cluster of positively charged ions which expands by Coulomb repulsion (ion explosion). After rapid outward motion, collisions become chaotic causing radiation damage in a transient quasicrystalline lattice created by the intense electric field of the initial cluster. By 1 ps a cylinder of disordered material 78 Å in diameter is formed. This is stabilised by a random distribution of spike ions, but after appropriate charge neutralisation and annealing yields a central core of chlorine surrounded by a disordered zone of span 48 Å, rich in anion vacancies. Save for the annealing observed in the present binary solid, these findings mimic phenomena found in high-Tc superconductors, and include the notion of chemical decomposition.