Influence of the image interaction on ion desorption processes

A classical treatment of the interaction between an ion and a conducting surface during an ion desorption process is presented. Analytical expressions have been obtained for the trajectories of desorbing ions as well as for the trajectories of ions trapped by the image potential. The distortion by the image potential of the energy and angular distribution of desorbing ions is estimated. Our objective has been to provide a guide for experimentalists to the surprisingly large changes in such distributions caused by the image forces.