Light emission of sputtered particles induced by ion bombardment on water-enriched molecular ices

We had measured the light of sputtered particles in a visible region induced by various projectiles bombarding water-enriched molecular ices, like mixed ices of CH4 + NH3 + H2O (1:1:1). In this experiment, each constituent contained in this iced sample was found to emit a characteristic wavelength of light. We believe this characteristic is due to certain ion attached to parent molecule (constituent) that are dissociated with parent molecule in the collision process. Some of those ions, before emerging out the iced film, will become neutralized and develop into excited states due to electron capture. Then the characteristic wavelengths of light will decay from these excited sputtered particles; hence, from the light emission, one can analyze the constituents of an unknown ice. On the other hand, the intensity of the distribution of light emission during ion bombardment can be interpreted as an ion-ice interaction following the similar collision mechanism as ion-metal interaction, i.e. mainly the linear-cascade collision model.