Stimulated Desorption from Alkali Halides

Abstract

Charged particle and high energy photon irradiation of alkali halides stimulates various desorption processes, studied already for several decades. In general, those processes could be classified as electronic- and collisional- type mechanisms. In this review I will concentrate on the electronic processes and discuss experimental and theoretical data available on desorption yields, angle-resolved and mass selected energy spectra of ejected particles and luminescence intensities. A problem of excited alkali atoms and ions from ESD and PSD of alkali halides will also be mentioned in order to set limits for alternative explanations existing in the literature. A brief description of the valence exciton mechanism for desorption in irradiated alkali halides is given based on the current theoretical knowledge in this field. A comparison of the theoretical predictions with the existing experimental data allowed us to sketch out some future developments in the area of stimulated desorption from alkali halides.