Mechanisms of ion neutralization at surfaces in fast collisions

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We present an analysis of higher-order processes in the capture of an electron from a surface by grazing-incidence impact of an ion moving at velocities greater than the Fermi velocity. In first order the capture probability is known to decrease very rapidly with increasing projectile velocity. The dominant process is shown to be of second order, in which surface electrons are scattered by the projectile ion and then recoil off the lattice atomic cores, to emerge from the surface with the same velocity as the ion. This Thomas-scattering process is well-known in the study of ion-gas collisions. In the case of a solid target it shows many formal similarities to the process of LEED.