Abstract
The acceleration of electrons during low-energy atomic collisions in solids is studied. It is shown that a classical, high energy electron can be “trapped” in a sequence of head-on collisions with the ion and the target atom. Then, due to the Fermi acceleration mechanism the trapped electron may absorb energy from the center-of-mass motion up to a maximum value, above which such a sequence becomes unstable. A quantum study of the same process indicates that virtual states appear higher in the continuum of the quasi-molecule formed by the nuclei in the colliding pair, which can be used by the electron to increase its energy during the incoming part of the collision.
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