X-ray studies of the interaction of N, O, and Ne hydrogenlike ions below surfaces

We present in this paper some experiments on the interaction of slow N⁶⁺, O⁷⁺, and Ne⁹⁺ ions below C or Si surfaces carried out by looking at the projectile and target x rays. The study of the x rays emitted by the ions, in contrast with studies of Auger electrons, allows the observation of a much larger part of the decay, not yet explored, below the surface. Moreover, the x rays emitted by the target atoms may identify the shell from which the electrons are captured. It is shown that the electron promotion mechanism, previously observed, which transfers, e.g., K electrons of C targets into the L shell of these ions, represents only a very small part of the interactions occurring at the first atomic layer and that the neutralization takes place, below the surface, mainly via Auger neutralization.