From fusion relevant ion surface collisions to a database and viewer of multi-dimensional mass spectra

Mass spectrometers are versatile tools for analysing products from various collision processes. In this work, both products from ion-surface reactions and products from the doping of helium nanodroplets (HNDs) were investigated. In fusion reactors, beryllium is used as a first-wall material, i.e., it is directly exposed to the hydrogen-rich fusion plasma. The resulting erosion, or rather the incorporation of hydrogen into beryllium, was investigated by colliding ionised deuterium with a beryllium surface at various parameters. By using chemically inert helium ions as projectiles, the difference between chemical and physical sputtering processes was studied. In HNDs, the clustering of different dopants (L) with gold atoms was investigated. Almost all bis-ligand complexes with a single gold atom (LAuL) were particularly stable compared to those with one or more than two ligands. Only when the HNDs were negatively charged before doping (instead of positively), no preferred bis-ligand formation was observed. A large number of mass spectra were recorded and analysed during the evaluation of both experiments. The publication of scientific findings also includes the publication of the data from which these conclusions were drawn. The FAIR principles (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reuse of digital assets) go one step further and also call for the simple and open exchange of data. In the course of this, a database for mass spectra from collision processes was developed, which not only provides easy access of the raw data, but can also compare mass spectra from different experiments. (author)