Temperature measurement of sputtered metal dimers

Abstract

The temperatures of sputtered alkali-metal dimers have been measured using one- and two-photon ionization spectroscopy. They are estimated to be 1470±300 K, 1025±200 K, and 1000±200 K for ${\mathrm{Cs}}_2$, ${\mathrm{K}}_2$, and ${\mathrm{Na}}_2$, respectively. The vibrational and rotational temperatures are found to be very similar. No dependence of the dimer excitation is found, neither on target temperature nor on the primary-ion energy. The results are compared with some currently used models to explain cluster formation in sputtering experiments.