Comparison of Auger and resonant transition rates in the hydrogen-metal surface interaction

Abstract

Results of parameter-free perturbation theory calculations of energetic ion-surface charge capture probabilities corresponding to resonant and direct Auger capture to the 1s state of H scattered from Al are presented and compared with experimental results. The theoretical results are found to be sensitively dependent on the surface electron density profile and atomic wave function distortion in the interaction region. The resonant and Auger transition rates are found to be of comparable magnitude. This result demonstrates the need to incorporate both one- and two-electron processes simultaneously in a realistic quantitative description of ion-surface interactions, in those cases where both coupling mechanisms are energetically allowed.