ABSOLUTE DESORPTION YIELDS OF METASTABLE ATOMS FROM THE SURFACE OF SOLID RARE-GASES INDUCED BY EXCITON CREATION

Absolute yields of the metastable excited atoms desorbed from the surf aces of solid Ne and Al by the creation of surface and bulk excitons h ave been measured using monochromated synchrotron radiation as a selec tive excitation source. We have obtained the absolute yields of (2.3 /- 0.7) x 10(-3), (1.4 +/- 0.4) x 10(-3), and (7.8 +/- 2.3) x 10(-4) a toms/photon at the excitation of S1, B1 and S' exciton for Ne, respect ively, and 1 x 10(-5) atoms/photon at S1 excitation for Ar. The probab ility for metastable atom desorption is found to be about 2 to 10% at the excitation of S1 exciton on the surface of solid Ne. (C) 1997 Else vier Science B.V.