| Abstract: | Ion-induced secondary electron emission was studied for vanadium and niobium cluster ions at incident energies between 12.5 and 25 keV. The number of electrons ejected per incident atomic particle was found to be solely a function of the velocity, being independent of the number of atoms in the cluster. In spite of the extremely high energy densities created by cluster ion impact, there is no enhanced electron emission from collision spikes. This is discussed in terms of energy coupling between the system of lattice atoms and that of the electrons in the solid. |
