The electronic energy loss of swift H and He ions in gold is studied, paying special
attention to the contribution to the projectile energy loss due to the ionization of the target
inner-shells. We calculate the stopping power and the energy-loss straggling as a function of
the projectile energy, taking into account the different charge states that the projectile can
acquire inside the target and using the dielectric formalism. The electronic response of gold
is described by the MELF-GOS model, where the excitation of valence and N-shell
electrons is characterized by a linear combination of Mermin-type energy-loss functions,
whereas the contribution to the projectile energy loss due to the target K-, L-, and
M-shell ionization is included through hydrogenic generalized oscillator strengths.
Stopping powers and straggling are, respectively, systematically above and below
the data in our linear response formulation when H and He ions are below
0.1 MeV/u. Our calculations show that the total contribution of K-, L-, and M-shells
to stopping power and straggling is less than 0.5% and 3.5% below
1 MeV/u, respectively. For stopping powers, the contribution of these inner-shells increases to 9% at
10 MeV/u and continues to rise to
20% at 100 MeV/u. For straggling,
it increases to 23% at 10 MeV/u
and rises to 35% at 100 MeV/u.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.