Coulomb Lindhard approximation: non linear excitation effects for fast ions penetrating a free electron gas

Abstract

We introduce a distorted wave method to calculate the nonlinear excitation effects occurring when a fast bare ion penetrates a free-electron gas. The central scheme of this work is to replace the undistorted plane waves leading to the Lindhard dielectric response function ~or random phase approximation! by Coulomb waves with an effective charge. This impulse-type approximation is valid for velocities larger than the Fermi velocity. Stopping and mean free path are presented for impact of bare multicharged ions on aluminum free-electron gas. The Barkas effect is theoretically found, i.e., negative heavy particles lose energy at the lower rate than positive particles of the same velocity do. As the projectile charge increases, the single differential cross section per unit energy presents two effects: the plasmon peak sharpens and the binary peak starts to be increasingly noticeable.