Irradiation-induced compositional and topological defects in glassy Cu ₆₄Ti₃₆

The metallic glass Cu₆₄Ti₃₆ was irradiated at 4.6 K with 3 MeV electrons up to fluences of 2.8*10¹⁹ cm ^-2. In the whole fluence region the electrical resistivity decreases almost linearly without a tendency to saturate. The subsequent isochronal annealing treatment up to 723 K reveals the existence of two contributions of opposite sign to the electrical resistivity. Topological defects are assigned to an increase and compositional defects to a decrease of the electrical resistivity. Both types of defects are totally annealed far below the crystallisation temperature.