Role of surface states in Auger neutralization of He+ ions on Ag surfaces

Recent measurements of He+ ion fractions that survive to a whole scatterig event when they impinge on Ag surfaces have shown two different and interesting effects: (1) a notable difference of surviving ion fraction depending on which crystallographic face of the target surface is studied [Yu. Bandurin et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 017601 (2004)], and (2) an uncommonly high ion fraction in the very-low-energy range (tens of eV) [S. Wethekam et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 037602 (2003)]. Apart from the geometry, one of the differences between the surfaces of a crystal can be seen in the electronic structure: while the (111) surface has an occupied surface state near the Fermi level at the Γ point the (110) and (100) faces have not. Motivated by these facts, in this work we study the role that the occupied surface state plays on the Auger neutralization rate and we present an estimation of the ion fractions that survive for the different Ag faces