Theoretical and experimental studies on the captured electron population probability of hydrogen-like O and N ions in collision with Al surface
Authors: Zhang Bing-Zhang , Song Zhang-Yong , Zhang Ming-Wu , Liu Xuan , Qian Cheng , Fang Xing , Shao Cao-Jie , Wang Wei , Liu Jun-Liang , Zhu Zhi-Chao , Sun Liang-Ting , Yu De-Yang ,   School of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, China,   Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, Lanzhou 730000, China,   School of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China,   School of Nuclear Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Published: June 2022

The study of the interaction between highly charged ions and solid surfaces not only has great significance for basic scientific research such as atomic physics, astrophysics, and high energy density physics but also has promising application prospects in biomedicine, nanotechnology, surface analysis, and microelectronics. In this paper, the intermediate Rydberg states formed during highly charged <inline-formula><tex-math id="M10">\begin{document}${\rm{O}}^{7+}$\end{document}</tex-math><alternatives><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M10.jpg"/><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M10.png"/></alternatives></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M11">\begin{document}${\rm{N}}^{6+}$\end{document}</tex-math><alternatives><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M11.jpg"/><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M11.png"/></alternatives></inline-formula> ions incident on Al surface are studied theoretically by using the two-state vector model. Both the probability of electron capture into different Rydberg states <inline-formula><tex-math id="M12">\begin{document}$\left(n_{A}=2-7\right)$\end{document}</tex-math><alternatives><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M12.jpg"/><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M12.png"/></alternatives></inline-formula> and the most probable neutralization distances are given. The calculation shows that the larger principal quantum number <inline-formula><tex-math id="M13">\begin{document}$n_{A}$\end{document}</tex-math><alternatives><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M13.jpg"/><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M13.png"/></alternatives></inline-formula> is relevant to smaller probability. Therefore, the X-rays emitted by <inline-formula><tex-math id="M14">\begin{document}${\rm{O}}^{7+}$\end{document}</tex-math><alternatives><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M14.jpg"/><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M14.png"/></alternatives></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M15">\begin{document}${\rm{N}}^{6+}$\end{document}</tex-math><alternatives><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M15.jpg"/><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M15.png"/></alternatives></inline-formula> ions incident on the Al surface come mainly from the de-excitation of the smaller <inline-formula><tex-math id="M16">\begin{document}$n_{A}$\end{document}</tex-math><alternatives><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M16.jpg"/><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M16.png"/></alternatives></inline-formula> to the ground state. In order to confirm the calculations, we measured the X-ray emission spectra of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M17">\begin{document}${\rm{O}}^{7+}$\end{document}</tex-math><alternatives><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M17.jpg"/><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M17.png"/></alternatives></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M18">\begin{document}${\rm{N}}^{6+}$\end{document}</tex-math><alternatives><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M18.jpg"/><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M18.png"/></alternatives></inline-formula> ions in collisions with the Al surface in the energy range of 3–20 keV/q. The experiments were performed at an ECR ion source located in Institute of modern physics. We also calculated the transition energies (n<i>p</i>–1<i>s</i>) from different high Rydberg states to the ground state by using the FAC code. The center of the measured <i>K</i> X-ray peak is close to the calculated transition energy from the principal quantum number n = 2 to n = 1, it is consistent with our results obtained by the two-state vector model as well. In addition, we found the experimental <i>K</i> X-ray yield for <inline-formula><tex-math id="M19">\begin{document}${\rm{O}}^{7+}$\end{document}</tex-math><alternatives><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M19.jpg"/><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M19.png"/></alternatives></inline-formula> ions incidence at lower energy collisions is almost the same with <inline-formula><tex-math id="M20">\begin{document}${\rm{N}}^{6+}$\end{document}</tex-math><alternatives><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M20.jpg"/><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M20.png"/></alternatives></inline-formula> ions, but larger at higher energy collisions. When the ion incident kinetic energy is low, the X-ray emission is mainly owing to the decay of “above the surface” hollow atoms. Because of the small difference in the critical distances for the capture of electrons by <inline-formula><tex-math id="M21">\begin{document}${\rm{O}}^{7+}$\end{document}</tex-math><alternatives><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M21.jpg"/><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M21.png"/></alternatives></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M22">\begin{document}${\rm{N}}^{6+}$\end{document}</tex-math><alternatives><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M22.jpg"/><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="13-20212434_M22.png"/></alternatives></inline-formula> to form hollow atoms, the X-ray yields produced in both cases are almost the same at low energy collisions. In contrast, as increasing the incident energy, the ions have a long-range in the target, so the contribution from the decay of “above the surface” and “below the surface” hollow atoms need to be considered at the same time.