Some phenomena produced by positive ion bombardment of metal surfaces at medium energies

Abstract

The last decade and a half has witnessed an enormous growth in the field of experimental atomic physics after a period of comparative neglect from 1935 to 1955. The slowing down of research in the field over this period can be partly attributed to the concentration on the more glamorous field of nuclear physics, with its greater apparent technological and commercial dividends. The mounting cost of nuclear research, however, led many research groups to re-direct some attention to the lower (and consequently cheaper) energy range below 500 keV, where atomic, rather than nuclear, processes become physically significant in many inter-particle reactions. It was quickly realized that an understanding of atomic interactions was a necessity for explaining many natural terrestrial phenomena such as atmospheric discharges and ionization, and also for the understanding - if only in a qualitative sense - of secondary emission processes, plasma generation and confinement, etc.