SPUTTERING OF ATOMS IN FINE-STRUCTURE STATES - A PROBE OF EXCITATION AND DEEXCITATION EVENTS

The electronic mechanisms leading to the formation of excited atoms fr om ion-bombarded metal surfaces have been examined in light of recent experimental observations, Specifically, populations and kinetic energ y distributions are compared for metastable fine structure states of I n, Rh, Ni, Co and Ag, The comparison shows that the populations of the se depend strongly on the electronic configuration of the departing at om and its correspondence with the metallic band structure, Current hy potheses about fundamental processes are discussed. Missing parts of o ur understanding of these processes are enumerated, and a number of ne w experiments aimed toward filling in these gaps are proposed. (C) 199 8 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.