THEORETICAL NEUTRALIZATION RATES FOR RYDBERG STATES IN ION METAL-SURFACE SCATTERING

The neutralization of highly charged ions in ion-metal-surface scattering via resonant transfer of conduction band electrons into Rydberg states is studied theoretically within the adiabatic approximation. Transition rates and the associated occupation probabilities of ionic hole states are calculated by applying a novel method for evaluating one-electron Coulomb matrix elements in closed form for arbitrary ion-surface distance, ionic quantum numbers, and momentum of the conduction band electrons. In the classically allowed region, oscillatory behavior of the transition rates as a function of ion-surface distance is revealed. The dependence of transition rates and occupation probabilities on the ionic angular momentum quantum numbers l and m is examined. A comparison is made with previous results obtained in the limit of very large ion-surface distance.