Optical emission from metal targets bombarded by 5–20 keV argon ions

The spectral composition of optical emission from high-purity iron (99.99% Fe), zirconium (99.98% Zr), and tungsten (99.96% W) targets bombarded by 5–20 keV Ar⁺ ions has been studied. The ion-bombardment-induced emission spectra of all metals exhibit two broad bands in the visible and IR spectral range. The first band is assigned to the emission from thermal spikes representing nanosized regions heated to 5000–6000 K, which are formed at the target surface in the course of evolution of high-density atomic collision cascades. The presence of an IR emission band is explained by the integral heating of targets to 500–800 K in the course of ion irradiation. This interpretation is confirmed by agreement between the experimentally measured and calculated temperatures in the region of thermalized collision cascades and the relative intensities of emission bands.