Schematic timeline of events during the first impact of a swift heavy ion (SHI) on an ice sample, within the thermal spike model. Chemistry and sputtering occur almost simultaneously within 10⁻⁹ s of the ion’s passage (Lang et al. 2020). The length d_s corresponds to the sputtering depth probed by an individual ion incident, which is inferior to d₀, the initial ice film thickness; r_r corresponds to the radiolysis destruction radius, which is at most equal to the sputtering cylinder radius r_s (Dartois et al. 2021). Considering the timescales involved, infrared spectroscopy cannot observe the radiolysis effects within the sputtered volume during the passage of an ion.