Radiation damage effects in solids: special topic volume with invited peer reviewed papers only

Public interest and concern about radiation damage effects has increased during recent times. Nuclear radiation proved to be a precursor for the study of radiation damage effects in solids. In general, all types of radiation, e.g. X-ray, gamma ray, heavy ions, fission fragments and neutrons produce damage effects in materials. Radiation damage latent tracks in solids find applications in nuclear and elementary particle physics, chemistry, radiobiology, earth sciences, nuclear engineering, and a host of other areas such as nuclear safeguards, virus counting, ion track filters, uranium exploration and archaeology. Radiation dosimetry and reactor shielding also involve concepts based on radiation damage in solids. This special volume consists of ten Chapters, including Review and Research Papers on various topics in this field.Physical scientists known to be investigating the effects of radiation on material were invited to contribute research and review papers on the areas of their specialty. The topics include ion irradiation effects in some electro-active and engineering polymers studied by conventional and novel techniques, spectroscopic investigations of radiation damage in glass used to immobilize radioactive waste, energy loss for swift heavy ions in polymers as a new approach for effective charge parametrization, the effect of nitrogen ion bombardment on optical and mechanical properties of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, and irradiation induced changes in semiconducting thin films.