Secondary Molecular Ion Emission In Binary Projectile-Surface Collisions (original) (raw)

Secondary molecular ions, emitted from a LiF target bombarded by a MeV argon beam, are analyzed by a XY-TOF detection system. This new method allows, for each emitted ion, simultaneous measurement of its time-of flight (TOF) and its impact coordinates (XY) on the detector surface, after acceleration by a homogenous electric field. Angular distributions and initial velocities for atomic (H + , Li + , C + ) and for molecular (H n + , C m H n + ) ions are determined. The analysis reveals different emission processes, among them a unexpected emission of fast molecular ions from binary collisions.