Angular Studies of Potential Electron Emission in the Interaction of Slow Ions with Al Surfaces

Abstract

We report energy distributions of electrons emitted from Al surfaces under impact by 1 keV Ar+ and 1-5 keV Ne+ ions. The variation of the energy distributions with the angle of incidence is different for both ions and provides information on the mechanism responsible for electron emission. For Ar+ electron emission results mainly from Auger neutralization, while for Ne+ an important emission mechanism is the decay of plasmon excitations. We find a transition between surface and bulk plasmon excitations as the energy of the ion is increased.