Pressure effects on the stopping and range of heavy ions

Abstract

Pressure effects on the energy loss of heavy ions in compound target materials are analyzed through the cores and bonds (CAB) implementation of the kinetic theory of stopping for protons and the effective charge approximation. The effect of pressure on the target material is estimated through a model of molecular confinement whereby the changes in the molecular electronic properties are calculated selfconsistently. As pressure increases, a competing behavior between target density increase and reduction in the electronic stopping cross section is observed. As a consequence, total path ranges are decreased as compared with the corresponding pressure-free target. Range calculations are shown for He + ( E⩽1.6 MeV) and Li + ( E⩽2.6 MeV) projectiles on dense water and methane targets.