Synergy of electronic excitations and elastic collision spikes in sputtering of heavy metal oxides

The emission of secondary ions and neutrals from uranium oxide has been measured for impact of highly charged, heavy ions. Total ablation rates and secondary ion yields increase strongly with projectile charge. The dependencies on projectile charge (16 < q < 70), impact energy (10 keV < E-kin < 1 MeV), and projectile mass of secondary ion yields demonstrate the presence of an interaction regime where electronic excitation by charge neutralization and elastic collision spikes combine synergistically.