O- IONS IN FRONT OF A METAL-SURFACE - APPLICATION TO AN O(D-1,S-1) QUENCHING PROCESS

The interaction of O- ions with an Al surface is studied in the coupled-angular-mode method (CAM) to yield all the quantities relevant to study the Q/O--Al surface resonant-charge-transfer process. The present work takes into account the existence of a few equivalent electrons in the free O and O-; this results in the fact that the O/O- surface resonant-charge-transfer process does not only imply the O ground state but also the two metastable singlet states (D-1 and S-1). The CAM results are used to evaluate the importance of a quenching process in low-energy oxygen collisions with a metal surface. This process involves the formation of the O- ion as a transient intermediate.