Sputtering of lunar regolith simulant by protons and singly and multicharged Ar ions at solar wind energies

F. W. Meyer, P. R. Harris, C. N. Taylor, H. M. Meyer, A. F. Barghouty, J. H. Adams

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report preliminary results on sputtering of a lunar regolith simulant at room temperature by singly and multiply charged solar wind ions using quadrupole and time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry approaches. Sputtering of the lunar regolith by solar-wind heavy ions may be an important particle source that contributes to the composition of the lunar exosphere, and is a possible mechanism for lunar surface ageing and compositional modification. The measurements were performed in order to assess the relative sputtering efficiency of protons, which are the dominant constituent of the solar wind, and less abundant heavier multicharged solar wind constituents, which have higher physical sputtering yields than same-velocity protons, and whose sputtering yields may be further enhanced due to potential sputtering. Two different target preparation approaches using JSC-1A AGGL lunar regolith simulant are described and compared using SEM and XPS surface analysis.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1316-1320
Number of pages5
JournalNuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms
Volume269
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1 2011

Funding

This research is supported by the ORNL LDRD program, and the US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. We thank Dr. Edwin Ethridge of NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center for providing us with the JSC-1A AGGL simulant. PRH was appointed through the ORNL Postdoctoral Research Associates Program administered jointly by Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Keywords

  • Ion-surface interactions
  • Lunar regolith
  • Solar wind
  • Sputtering

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