Deexcitation Model for Sputtered Excited Neutral Atoms

B. I. Craig; J. P. Baxter; J. Singh; G. A. Schick; P. H. Kobrin; B. J. Garrison; N. Winograd

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.57.1351

Abstract

Velocity distributions of In atoms in their ground ( ${}^{2}P_{\frac{1}{2}}$ ) and excited ( ${}^{2}P_{\frac{3}{2}}$ ) states ejected from In foils by bombardment with 5-keV ${Ar}^{+}$ ions are measured with a multiphoton resonance-ionization technique. We show for the first time that the ${}^{2}P_{\frac{3}{2}}$ level is not significantly populated during sputtering and that the only path for population of this state is via laser-induced photodissociation of ${In}_{2}$ during the detection process. A new deexcitation model for sputtered excited neutral atoms is proposed which is based on the electronic localization of the fine-structure orbital.

Received 6 June 1986

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.57.1351

Authors & Affiliations

B. I. Craig^*, J. P. Baxter, J. Singh, G. A. Schick^†, P. H. Kobrin^‡, B. J. Garrison, and N. Winograd

The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Chemistry, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802

^*Present address: Department of Physics, University of Newcastle, Shortland, N.S.W. 2308, Australia.
^†Present address: Center for Molecular Electronics, Carnegie-Mellon University, 4400 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213.
^‡Present address: Rockwell Science Center, 1049 Camino Dos Rios, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360.

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

Physical Review Letters