Enhanced ion backscattering near 1800 scattering angles in the two-atom scattering model

An analytical two-atom scattering model has been developed to treat the recent discovery of the enhancement near 1800 of Rutherford backscattering yields from disordered solids. In contrast to conventional calculations of Rutherford backscattering that treat scattering from a single atom only (the backscattering atom), the present model includes the interaction of a second atom lying between the target surface and the backscattering atom. The projectile ion makes a glancing collision with this second atom both before and after it is backscattered. A weighted average is made over all possible positions of this second atom. The model predicts an enhancement effect whose physical origin arises from the tolerance of path for those ions whose ingoing and outgoing trajectories lie in the vicinity of the critical impact parameter. Results using Moliere scattering show how the yield enhancement depends on ion energy, backscattering depth, exit angle, scattering potential, atomic numbers of the projectile and target, and target density. In the model the critical impact parameter and critical angle play important roles. It is shown that these quantities depend on a single dimensionless parameter and formulas accurate to better than 1% are given for them