Low dose rate proton irradiation of quartz crystal resonators

Quartz crystal resonators were systematically irradiated with 65 MeV protons to characterize low dose rate radiation-induced degradation. Results indicate: (1) test samples that exhibit large frequency shifts during testing tend to show large frequency shifts prior to irradiation, or during off-irradiation periods; (2) for radiation-sensitive samples, short-term effects seem to decrease after each irradiation on/off cycle (moreover, those devices in which radiation effects do not decrease after a few cycles are not very sensitive); (3) the fabrication process may be an important determinant of susceptibility to low dose radiation-induced degradation; and (4) total-dose effects may be sublinear.