Kinetic excitation of metallic solids: Progress towards a microscopic model

The kinetic excitation of a solid due to impact of an energetic particle is still not fully understood. Fundamental issues include the relative role of different excitation mechanisms transferring the imparted kinetic energy to the electronic degrees of freedom, the energy distribution of charge carriers excited this way, the transport of excitation energy away from the spot of its generation and, finally, the connection between the resulting spatial and temporal excitation profile and experimental observables like kinetic electron emission or secondary ion formation. We describe recent progress towards a microscopic understanding of these issues on the basis of computer simulations combining the particle and excitation dynamics in collision cascades induced by slow projectile impacts.