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Measurement of atomic alignment of Ta, W and Au by electron impact from L x-ray angular distribution

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Author(s):
Suelen Fernandes de Barros
Total Authors: 1
Document type: Doctoral Thesis
Press: São Paulo.
Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Física (IF/SBI)
Defense date:
Examining board members:
Vito Roberto Vanin; Eduardo Chaves Montenegro; Mauricio Moralles; Tulio Costa Rizuti da Rocha; Elisabeth Mateus Yoshimura
Advisor: Vito Roberto Vanin; José María Fernández Varea
Abstract

Measurements of the atomic alignment of Ta, W and Au after the ionization of the L3 subshell of these elements were performed by electron impact via the angular distribution of x-ray lines employing thin targets. The targets were made in the Laboratório de Filmes Finos, by the technique of physical vapor deposition (Au target), and in the Laboratório de Materiais Magnéticos, by the sputtering technique (Ta and W targets), while their characterization was performed in the Laboratório de Materiais e Feixes Iônicos, by Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry. The Microtron of São Paulo, as well as the laboratories where the targets were made and characterized, are placed at Instituto de Física of the Universidade de São Paulo. The x-rays from the ionization of the targets were detected simultaneously by three Silicon Drift Detectors placed at 31°, 90° and 125° with respect to the direction of the incident beam. The determination of the full energy peak efficiency of the detectors was performed with an analytical model previously tested. In the data analysis the L x-ray multiplet lines were fitted in a single procedure employing Voigt functions to describe them, and the Ll, L1 and L2 lines were employed simultaneously in the estimation of the alignment parameter A20. In order to compare the experimental results with the theoretical predictions, the alignment parameter was calculated with the non-relativistic plane-wave Born approximation using HartreeSlater and DiracHartreeSlater atomic potentials. The experimental results confirmed the nonisotropic emission of x-rays from filled vacancies in the L3 subshell, with the magnitude of this anisotropy varying with the energy of the incident electron beam. In addition, anisotropies of opposite signs were observed for the L1 and L2 lines. The energy dependence of the alignment parameter A20 shows a sharp fall of A20, with two sign inversions, one around 2 E/E(L3) and another around 8 E/E(L3), and a non-zero alignment value around 10 E/E(L3), for the three studied elements. Comparison of the experimental results with the performed calculations shows a good agreement up to about 5 E/E(L3) for the incident electron beam, from which the experiment evidences a second inversion in the sign of A20, which is not predicted by this theory. This is, to our knowledge, the first work to quantify the atomic alignment in the ionization of heavy atoms by electron impact, via an angular distribution of x-rays in the interval from 1 to 10 E/E(L3). (AU)

FAPESP's process: 13/24803-5 - Measurement of the atomic alignment by electron impact from L x-rays angular distribution
Grantee:Suelen Fernandes de Barros
Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate