Production of excitons in grazing collisions of protons with LiF surfaces: An onion model.

J.E. MIRAGLIA; M.S. GRAVIELLE

PHYSICAL REVIEW A - ATOMIC, MOLECULAR AND OPTICAL PHYSICS

AMER PHYSICAL SOC

Lugar: Nueva York; Año: 2011 vol. 84 p. 62901 - 62911

1050-2947

In this work we evaluate the production of excitons of a Lithium Fluoride crystal induced by proton impact in the intermediate and high energy regime (from 100 keV to 1 MeV). A simple model is proposed to account for the influence of the Coulomb grid of the target by dressing crystal ions to transform them in what we call onions. The excited states of these onions can be interpreted as excitons. Within this model, total cross section and stopping power are calculated by using the first Born and the Continuum Distorted Wave - Eikonal Initial State (CDW-EIS) approximations. We found that between 7 to 30 excitons per incident proton are produced in grazing collisions with LiF surfaces, becoming a relevant mechanism of inelastic transitions.