Defect mediated desorption of the KBr(001) surface induced by single highly charged ion impact.

The individual impacts of slow (300 eV/amu) highly charged Xe ions induce nanometer sized pitlike structures on the KBr (001) surface. The volume of these structures shows a strong dependence on the ions potential energy. Total potential sputter yields from atomically flat (001) terraces are determined by imaging single ion impact sites. The dependence of the sputter yield on the ions initial charge state combined with structure formation at low and high-fluence irradiations indicates that agglomeration of defects into complex centers plays a major role in the desorption process induced by the potential energy.