Nanostructures induced by slow highly charged ions on KBr(001) surfaces

Highly charged ions carry a large amount of potential energy (up to 100 keV) which is defined as the sum of all binding energies of all missing electrons. This energy can be used to modify surfaces on the nano-scale and due to very low kinetic energies (less than 100 eV) significant bulk damage can be avoided. The production of nanometer sized pit-like structures on KBr(001) surfaces by the impact of single highly charged ions was studied in detail previously. The investigation of high fluence effects of highly and lowly charged ions is important to clearly identify the mechanism of defect mediated desorption as the driving force for the creation of pit-like nanostructures on ionic crystals like KBr. Results of high fluence compared to low fluence irradiations are shown, and kinetic and potential energy effects are discussed.