Ionization Of Noble Gas Atoms By ²⁵²Cf Fission Fragments

Abstract

The primary purpose of this work was to study the charge state distributions and ionization cross sections for fast, highly charged, heavy ions in collision with noble gas atoms. Fission fragments from the spontaneous fission of the isotope ²⁵²Cf provide a simple way of extending ionization cross section and charge state distribution measurements for ion-atom collisions in the 0.5 to 1.0 MeV/amu energy region to much higher projectile atomic numbers and ionic charges than are available at most particle accelerators. In addition, a spontaneous fission source is much less expensive than a particle accelerator and can be dedicated to an individual experiment for large amounts of time. It is expected that the system developed for the present study will be useful in future experiments involving dissociative, multielectron ionization of molecules, since large amounts of time are required to collect data. The investigation of collisions between ²⁵²Cf fission fragments and single atoms in the gas. phase may eventually lead to new insights regarding the complex processes involved in plasma desorption mass spectrometry.