Charge exchange of keV O⁻ions transmitted through Al₂O₃nano-capillaries

Abstract

The transmission of 10-18 keV O- ions through Al2O3 nano-capillaries has been investigated experimentally. From the angular distribution of the transmitted particles, O-0 and O- and O+ ions can be distinguished in the mixed scattered beams. The fractions of the scattered ions increase with both the tilt angle and the incident energy, which indicates strongly that there is dynamical charge exchange in the scattering of negative ions on the insulator surface. Moreover, it is found that the scattered neutrals (O-0) are only more or less guided along the capillary axis, which is greatly different from the case of the guiding effect of highly charged ions.