L-shell filling rates of highly charged ions in metals

Local spin polarization at surfaces probed by hollow atoms

The relaxation of hollow atoms produced by slow multiply charged ions impinging on surfaces produces characteristic Auger electron spectra. These spectra, which serve as fingerprints of the interaction, can be used to probe local spin ordering at surfaces by relating changes in the intensities of different spin states to local spin polarization at the surface. The area from which the electrons are captured is of the order of a few Angstrom(2), only. The potential of the method is illustrated by He(2+) and N(6+) ions interacting with a ferromagnetic Ni(110) crystal. From the Auger spectra we determine a spin polarization of approximately 90% at room temperature.

Spin-polarized electrons in collisions of multicharged nitrogen ions with a magnetized Fe(001) surface

We report on the first spin-resolved energy spectra for the emission of electrons during grazing scattering of 150 keV multicharged nitrogen ions from a magnetized Fe(001) surface. A substantial spin polarization for KLL Auger electrons emitted in the final stage of the neutralization sequence during the interaction of multicharged ions with a metal surface is observed. We conclude from our data that the projectile L shell is dominantly populated by electrons from the conduction band of the target. For low energy electrons we find an increase of their spin polarization with an increase of the projectile charge.

Z oscillations in ion-induced fullerene fragmentation

Multiply charged ion-induced fragmentation and ionization of C60 is governed by electronic and nuclear stopping of the projectile as well as charge exchange. We have studied the collision dynamics as a function of the projectile atomic number Z ( 2</=Z</=18) for constant projectile velocity v at charge states q = 2,3. Strong oscillations of electronic-stopping-related quantities such as ionization and fragmentation are observed. From the properties of the oscillations, we obtain information on the effective electron density of the fullerene.