On the missing single collision peak in low energy heavy ion scattering

RA Wilhelm and MJ Deuzeman and S Rai and W Husinsky and PS Szabo and H Biber and R Stadlmayr and C Cupak and J Hundsbichler and C Lemell and W Moeller and A Mutzke and G Hobler and OO Versolato and F Aumayr and R Hoekstra, NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS & METHODS IN PHYSICS RESEARCH SECTION B-BEAM INTERACTIONS WITH MATERIALS AND ATOMS, 544, 165123 (2023).

DOI: 10.1016/j.nimb.2023.165123

We present experimental and simulation data on the oblique angle scattering of heavy Sn ions at 14 keV energy from a Mo surface. The simulations are performed with the binary collision approximation codes TRIM, TRIDYN, TRI3DYN, SDTrimSP, and IMSIL. Additional simulations were performed in the molecular dynamics framework with LAMMPS. Our key finding is the absence of an expected peak in the experimental energy spectrum of backscattered Sn ions associated with the pure single collision regime. In sharp contrast to this, however, all simulation codes we applied do show a prominent single collision signature both in the energy spectrum and in the angular scatter pattern. We discuss the possible origin of this important discrepancy and show in the process, that widely used binary collision approximation codes may contain hidden parameters important to know and to understand.

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