Molecular dynamics simulations of collisional energy transport and sputtering in a condensed gas solid

Following electronic excitation of a condensed gas solid by photons, electrons, or fast ions, non-radiative decay can give atoms enough kinetic energy to escape from the material. Ejection is studied using molecular dynamics simulations from a Lennard-Jones solid using parameters for solid Ar. The yield is affected by the boundary conditions for the sample sizes used in earlier works. Energy and angular distributions of the ejecta show that focusons determine the ejection probability for excitations at depth. As in earlier works a linear dependence on the kinetic energy release is found for the average sputtering yield. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.