Anomalous electronic energy losses in protons passing through Gd thin films

We report a theoretical analysis of recent data on the unexpectedly high electronic energy loss protons in a polycrystalline gadolinium target. These results led the authors of this data to conclude that the free electron model used to analyse these results fails. In this work we provide a quantitat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Radiation effects and defects in solids 2023-01, Vol.178 (1-2), p.20-27
Main Authors: Valdés, Jorge E., León, Andrea M., Arista, Néstor, Esaulov, Vladimir A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Density distribution
Density functional theory
Electron density
Electron gas
Energy loss
free electron model
Free electrons
Gadolinium
ion scattering
Particle trajectories
Physics
Polycrystals
proton
Protons
stopping of ions
Theoretical analysis
Thin films
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Summary:We report a theoretical analysis of recent data on the unexpectedly high electronic energy loss protons in a polycrystalline gadolinium target. These results led the authors of this data to conclude that the free electron model used to analyse these results fails. In this work we provide a quantitative explanation of the experimental results, using an approach based on density functional theory within the framework of the free electron gas model. We performed semi-classical trajectory simulations (SCTS) and employ the local-density-approximation model (LDA), using an inhomogeneous electron density distribution and the polycrystalline character of Gd samples. The good agreement obtained, delineates the need of considering a realistic description of a particle trajectory and the effective electron density 'seen' along it, whose description remains within a FEG model.
ISSN:1042-0150
1029-4953
DOI:10.1080/10420150.2023.2186866