Production of fullerene ions by combining of plasma sputtering with laser ablation

We have produced C60 ion beams by combining plasma sputtering and laser ablation. A C60 sample was placed in an electron cyclotron resonance type ion source, negatively biased and sputtered by argon plasma. The beam current of C60+ decreased rapidly, but it was transiently recovered by a single laser shot that ablates the thin sample surface on the sputtered area. Temporal variations in beam current are reported in response to laser shots repeated at intervals of a few minutes