Interaction of highly charged ions with carbon nano membranes

Abstract

Charge state and energy loss measurements of slow highly charged ions (HCIs) after transmission through nanometer and sub-nanometer thin membranes are presented. Direct transmission measurements through carbon nano membranes (CNMs) show an unexpected bimodal exit charge state distribution, accompanied by charge exchange dependent energy loss. The energy loss of ions in CNMs with large charge loss shows a quadratic dependency on the incident charge state, indicating charge state dependent stopping force values. Another access to the exit charge state distribution is given by irradiating stacks of CNMs and investigating each layer of the stack with high resolution imaging techniques like transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and helium ion microscopy (HIM) independently. The observation of pores created in all of the layers confirms the assumption derived from the transmission measurements that the two separated charge state distributions reflect two different impact parameter regimes, i.e. close collision with large charge exchange and distant collisions with weak ion-target interaction.