Stimulated desorption from surfaces

After spending years wondering how the surface bond is formed, we are now wondering just as hard how it can be broken. Investigation of the latter problem—possibly the more challenging of the two—is leading to new insight into chemical bonding and the dynamical processes important in chemical kinetics. In this article I discuss a very powerful technique that surface scientists are using in this research: stimulated desorption, the removal of atoms and molecules from surfaces by low-energy ionizing radiation. Concepts from the field of stimulated desorption are already finding their way into other areas. For example, we find that we can offer new insight into the problem of beam damage in electron microscopy and that we can contribute to the very important technological area of plasma processing of surfaces. Insights into chemistry and into the general problem of radiation-induced damage could affect our thinking in areas ranging from radiation treatment in medicine to the interaction of radiation with matter in space.