Raman spectroscopy, a new facility at LECI laboratory to investigate neutron damage in irradiated materials

Raman spectroscopy is considered as a good alternative to X-ray diffraction analysis in order to study the irradiation damage in materials. Up to now LECI hot laboratory had only an X-ray diffractometer in hot cell to characterize the evolution of the crystallographic structure of materials under irradiation. The present paper describes a new Raman spectroscopy facility available in the “M line” of LECI laboratory. This new facility consists in a T64000 Jobin Yvon spectrometer associated with an Ar laser (λ = 514 nm) and two microscopes. The first one is located close to the spectrometer and the Ar laser, and is dedicated to studies of non irradiated materials. The second microscope takes place in a hot cell in order to characterize irradiated samples and is linked to the Ar laser and the spectrometer thanks to optical fibres. The main advantage of such a facility in comparison with X-ray diffraction is the opportunity of performing very local investigations. Indeed, it is possible to focus the laser on 1 μm for a bulk resolution of few μm. Today, this new facility is totally operational and studies have already been performed: For instance, evolution of the microstructure of ions irradiated SiC singlecrystals, or local investigations in zirconia layers of PWR claddings.