IMPROVED CALCULATIONS OF THE ELECTRONIC-ENERGY LOSS UNDER CHANNELING CONDITIONS

Ab-initio calculations of the electronic stopping power are important not only as benchmark tests for many simplified models but also becaus e they provide fundamental insights into the underlying physics of the energy dissipation of ions penetrating matter. In this work we invest igate the electronic energy loss processes by using the coupled-channe l method. This first-principle calculation is based on the solution of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation in the framework of the indep endent particle model. A brief review of such calculations is presente d and special emphasis is given on recent calculations of the energy d ependence of the stopping power for He ions channeling along the Si [1 0 0] direction, a system of interest for ion beam analysis. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B,V.