An electron gas approach to the energy loss of charged particles in solids: the confined-atom model

Abstract

The author presents a model to describe the energy loss of fast particles in solids that is based on the Thomas-Fermi model for an electron gas of variable density, with boundary conditions corresponding to an atomic system confined within a Wigner-Seitz cell in the solid. The model explains the oscillations of the stopping cross section as a function of the atomic number Z2 of the solid element, as well as the fluctuations in the mean excitation energy I0=I/Z2.