Electronic energy loss of low velocity H+ beams in Al, Ag, Sb, Au and Bi

The energy loss of H+ ions in thin polycrystalline Al, Sb, Ag, Au and Bi films has been determined in the energy range below 10 keV. This low-energy range is of special interest to fill a lack of low-energy experimental data and test various theoretical predictions and semiempirical formulas. We find that the general theoretical prediction of a velocity-proportional dependence of energy loss does not hold for all targets studied in this work. The velocity-proportionality is better satisfied for Al, Sb and Bi, whereas a departure from such dependence is observed at lower energies for Ag and Au targets. The results obtained here are in good general agreement with nonlinear stopping power calculations based on density functional theory. Comparison with semiempirical predictions, and other experimental results are also done. (orig.)