Time-of-flight measurements of low-energy electron energy distributions from ion–atom collisions

Abstract

A time-of-flight technique for the measurement of the energy spectra of electrons ejected in ion–atom collisions is described. Ionization is produced by a pulsed beam of protons which are obtained by chopping the dc proton beam from a Van de Graaff accelerator with a 3.33 MHz high voltage oscillator. Electron energy and angular distributions are derived from time-of-flight spectra recorded for different emission angles. This system is capable of measurements for proton energies from 0.25 to 2.0 MeV, ejected electron energies from 0.3 eV to several hundred eV, and electron ejection angles from 30° to 150°. The advantages and limitations of this technique are illustrated.