Interaction of highly charged ions with metal and insulator surfaces

Abstract

Recent experimental investigations concerning the interaction of slow highly charged ions with clean metal and insulator surfaces are presented, with main emphasis on the ion‐induced electron emission. At projectile impact energies close to the lower limit set by the projectile’s image charge attraction multiply excited ‘‘hollow atoms’’ are transiently formed which primarily decay by potential electron emission (PE). Essential differences for metal and insulator surfaces will be discussed by comparing results for polycrystalline Au‐ and LiF targets.