Sputtering of UF₄by high energy heavy ions

The sputtering of UF4 targets by energetic beams of 16O, 19F, and 35Cl ions has been investigated for beam energies in the range 0.12 to 1.5 MeV/amu. The sputtering yields, which follow the same trend as the electronic part of the projectile energy loss in the material, are observed to have a strong dependence on the charge state of the incident ions. Data have been taken both in transmission and reflection (0° and 180° to the incident beam direction, respectively). Energy spectra of the neutral sputtered particles have been obtained for 5 MeV 19F ions and for 13 MeV 35Cl ions; in both cases the spectrum has a Maxwellian form. The data obtained are compared with several models of the high energy sputtering process.