Measurement of the nuclear energy loss under channeling

Abstract

Neutral Ne atoms with keV energies are scattered under channeling conditions, i.e. at a glancing angle of incidence, from a LiF(001) surface. By means of a time-of-flight method with a pulsed neutral beam we record energy distributions for scattered projectiles. For this specific system the small energy transferred to the crystal lattice (“nuclear energy loss”) during channeling via binary collisions with large impact parameters dominates the dissipation of projectile energy. All other excitations of the solid can be brought to a negligible level.