Rand L Watson
Professor Emeritus
Ph. D., University of California at Berkeley
Contact
Information:
Department of Chemistry
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-3255
Phone:
(979) 845-1411
Fax: (979) 845-1899
watson@comp.tamu.edu
The interaction of high energy heavy-ions with matter is a topic of importance in many areas of science. For example, the mechanisms whereby highly ionized atoms deexcite and return to charge neutrality are of great concern in the design of thermonuclear fusion reactors, where energy transfer to impurity ions injected from the walls of the containment vessel can seriously affect the plasma stability. The development of materials for use in outer space must take into account the destructive effects of cosmic rays. Such considerations are particularly important in the application of miniaturized semiconductor devices and ultimately may limit the size scale of electronic circuits, both in space and on earth.
Many of the important dynamic properties of highly-charged ions may be investigated under the well-defined conditions possible through the use of a particle accelerator. The ECR ion source and K500 superconducting cyclotron at the Texas A&M Cyclotron Institute can provide beams of fully stripped ions up to Z = 30 and heavier ions up to U65+ This capability opens many exciting prospects for exploring the interactions of highly-charged ions with atoms, molecules and surfaces.
This research program focuses on a variety of topics involving ion-atom and ion-molecule collisions, including (a) charge transfer mechanisms, (b) inner-shell ionization phenomena, (c) fragmentation of molecules, (d) charge state equilibration in gases and solids, and (e) atomic structure of few-electron ions. In addition to characterizing the fundamental properties of collisions involving highly charged ions, these studies supply data needed for
applications in other fields, such as wavelengths of atomic transitions, line identifications, transition probabilities, and cross sections for electron ionization and capture.
"Target Atom K-Shell Ionization by Binary Encounter Electrons" Horvat, V., Watson, R.L., J. Phys. 2001, B34, 777.
"Multiple Electron Stripping of 3.4 MeV/u Kr7+ and Xe11+ in Nitrogen" Mueller, D., Grisham, L., Kagonovich, I., Watson, R.L., Horvat, V., Zaharakis, K.E., Armel, M.S. Phys. Plasmas, 2001, 8, 1753
"Target-Atom Inner-Shell Vacancy Distributions Created in Collisions with Heavy Ion Projectiles" Horvat, V., Watson, R.L., Blackadar, J.M. Nucl. Instrum. and Methods 2000, B170, 336.
"Projectile Z Dependence of Al K-Shell Vacancy Production in 10 MeV/amu Ion-Solid Collisons" Watson, R.L., Horvat, V., Blackadar, J.M., Zaharakis, K.E. Phys. Rev. 2000, A62, 052709-1.