An anomalous decrease in the scattered N2+-ion yield from Al(111)

Abstract

The incident-energy dependence and the angular distribution of the scattered N2+-ion yield from an Al(111) surface were measured in the incident-energy range 10-150 eV. A sudden decrease in the incident-energy dependence of the energy dissipating N2+-ion yield was observed in the 45 degrees specular scattering geometry. The observed result is closely correlated with the normal component of the kinetic energy of incident ions. The authors propose a possible mechanism in which the sudden decrease appears as a result of the N2+ dissociation induced by the translational-to-internal-energy transfer.