Defect microstructures formed in ion-irradiated metals, for example iron or tungsten, often exhibit patterns of spatially ordered nano-scale dislocation loops. We show that such ordered dislocation loop structures may form spontaneously as a result of Brownian motion of loops, biased by the angular-dependent elastic interaction between the loops. Patterns of spatially ordered loops form once the local density of loops produced by ion irradiation exceeds a critical threshold value.
@article{arxiv.1407.4683,
title = {Spatial ordering of nano-dislocation loops in ion-irradiated materials},
author = {S. L. Dudarev and K. Arakawa and X. Yi and Z. Yao and M. L. Jenkins and M. R. Gilbert and P. M. Derlet},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1407.4683},
year = {2014}
}