Computer studies of the scattering of low energy hydrogen ions from polycrystalline solids

Reflection of 50 eV to 10 keV H atoms from polycrystalline Cu, Nb and Au targets has been calculated using the binary collision cascade program MARLOWE. The fractions of particles and energy reflected (backscattered) increase with increasing atomic number of the target and decrease with increasing incident energy. The results indicate that the effects of polycrystallinity are modest, reducing the amorphous reflection coefficients by about 25%. The calculations agree quite well with the experimental data for Cu and Au, but are about a factor of two larger than is observed for Nb.