Ion irradiation with Xe+ has been utilized to produce electrical conductivity in PMMA, as measured using a four-point in-line probe. Incident ion beam energy and current density have been varied to investigate their effect on electrical conductivity and optical absorbance of the samples after irradiation. Results support the premise that selection of beam parameters that maximize the ratio of energy transfer-producing displacements to energy transfer-producing ionization maximizes the ratio of induced conductivity to induced absorbance in the irradiated samples. Conductivity versus ion dose has also been shown to be well estimated using a damage trail model.