Guided transmission of 3 keV Ne 7+ ions through nanocapillaries etched in a PET polymer

Abstract

We measured the transmission of 3 keV Ne 7+ ions through capillaries of 100 nm diameter and 10 μm length produced by etching ion tracks in a polyethylene terephthalate polymer foil. The foils were tilted up to ±25° for which the incident ions are forced to interact with the capillary surface. The majority of Ne 7+ ions were found to survive the transmission in their initial charge state. For tilted foils the angular distributions of the transmitted particles indicate propagation of the Ne 7+ ions parallel to the capillary axis. This capillary guiding of the Ne 7+ ion provides evidence that part of the ions deposit charges within the capillaries in a self-organizing process so that a considerable fraction of the ions is transmitted through the capillaries. A non-linear model is introduced to describe the essential features of the capillary guiding.