Electron emission and molecular fragmentation during hydrogen and deuterium ion impact on carbon surfaces

Molecular fragmentation and electron emission during hydrogen ion impact on graphite surfaces has been investigated in the eV to keV impact energy region typical for fusion edge plasma conditions. As a target surface graphite tiles for the Tokamak experiment Tore Supra in CEA-Cadarache/France and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) have been used. For both surfaces studied, the experimentally observed threshold for electron emission is at about 50 eV/amu impact energy. Electron emission from the high conductivity side of the carbon tile is 15–20% less as compared to its low conductivity side, whereas results for HOPG are generally between these two cases. Deuterium and hydrogen ions are almost equally effective in liberating electrons from graphite when comparing results for the same impact velocity. Surface-induced dissociation of deuterium ions D3+ upon impact on Tore Supra graphite tiles, in the collision energy range of 20–100 eV, produced only atomic fragment ions D+. The other possible fragment ion D2+ could not be observed.