Electronic sputtering of LiF by Krypton (10 MeV/u): size dependent energy distributions of Li+(LiF)n clusters

• Published in: The European physical journal. D, Atomic, molecular, and optical physics Atomic, molecular, and optical physics, 2012-11, Vol.66 (11), Article 305
• Main Authors: Hijazi, H., Rothard, H., Boduch, P., Alzaher, I., Langlinay, Th, Cassimi, A., Ropars, F., Been, T., Ramillon, J. M., Lebius, H., Ban-d’Etat, B., Farenzena, L. S., da Silveira, E. F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applications of Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos Theory; Atomic; Atomic and Molecular Clusters; Atomic and molecular collision processes and interactions; Atomic and molecular physics; Condensed Matter; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Imaging and optical processing; Interactions of atoms, molecules and their ions with surfaces; photon and electron emission; neutralization of ions; Materials Science; Molecular; Optical and Plasma Physics; Optics; Physical Chemistry; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Quantum Information Technology; Quantum Physics; Regular Article; Scattering of atoms, molecules and ions; Spectroscopy/Spectrometry; Spintronics
• ISSN: 1434-6060; 1434-6079
• DOI: 10.1140/epjd/e2012-30252-8

A combination of imaging techniques (XY) and time-of-flight (TOF) spectroscopy was used to measure the complete velocity vector of sputtered positive secondary ions in collisions of Kr 33+ (10.1 MeV/u) with well-prepared LiF single crystals in the electronic stopping regime. The energy distributions N ( E ) of the cluster ions (LiF) n Li + ( n ≥ 0) depend on the size of the ejecta: the maximum is slightly shifted towards lower energy with increasing cluster size n . The measured energy distributions of emitted cluster ions can be fitted by a Maxwell-Boltzmann function N ( E ) = AE exp(− βE ). This could be an indication that the processes generating the sputtering are compatible with a thermal origin.