Optical Radiation from Photon-Stimulated Desorption of Excited Atoms

Abstract
The first observation of atomic line radiation due to the photon-stimulated desorption of excited neutral atoms is reported. Synchrotron radiation incident on alkali-halide surfaces is found to result in a surprisingly high yield of desorbed excited alkali atoms, more than three orders of magnitude larger than the yield of desorbed ions. Marked structure in the incident-photon-energy-dependent Li* resonance line intensity suggests that the desorption is induced by secondary electronic processes.