Sequential ion implantation of copper and cobalt in silica glass: A study by synchrotron radiation techniques

Copper-cobalt nanostructures are expected to exhibit peculiar magnetic and optical properties that make them interesting for several application fields. In particular, nanoclusters of these metals can be formed upon ion implantation in dielectric matrices. In this work, Co+ and Cu+ ions were sequentially implanted into fused silica. Samples were analyzed by different synchrotron radiation-based techniques, namely, extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction. The obtained cluster structure, and so its magnetic features, are observed to depend on the sequential implantation order.