A correction factor to the screening radius for atomic interactions involving hydrogen and its application in direct recoil spectrometry

The screening function of the atomic interaction potential in low-energy ion scattering and recoiling was investigated for collisions involving hydrogen. Time-of-flight direct recoil spectrometry (TOF-DRS) and the Marlowe computer code were used to derive a correction factor, with explicit atomic-number dependence, to the screening radius specific to X–H interactions, where X represents any other atom. The improved screening radius was tested in the simulation of TOF spectra. The observed results displayed very good agreement with experimental data. The application of this correction factor in computer simulation studies of ion-surface interactions involving H should improve the exactness of the calculations and lead to more accurate differential interaction cross-sections.