Charge exchange between low energy alkali ions and cerium oxide surfaces

The fraction of low energy Na⁺ ions neutralized during single scattering from CeO₂(1 0 0) surfaces was measured with time-of-flight spectroscopy. The projectile ionization level is resonant with the surface electronic states, so that the neutralization results from a non-adiabatic charge exchange process that depends on the exit velocity and the local electrostatic potential (LEP) along the exit trajectory at a point close to the surface. Variations of the measured neutral fraction with ion energy and exit angle differ from the results obtained from clean metals due to the inhomogeneity of the LEP on an oxide surface. The results suggest that neutral fraction data collected as a function of emission angle and ion energy could be used to quantitatively map the shape of an inhomogeneous LEP.