Thermodynamics of Ion Formation by Fast Dissipation of Energy at Solid Surfaces

Abstract

A fast dissipation of a certain amount of energy at a solid surface by a mechanism whatsoever may cause a non-equilibrium phase transition of the surface material forming nearly instantaneously a relatively large amount of gaseous molecular and atomic ions. This is known to be a phenomenon common to many techniques utilized to create ions especially from organic solids. The thermodymanics of these processes are deduced from first principles; physical properties (kinetic energy and angular distributions, excitation energy) and chemical properties (ion types, mass spectra and intensities) are derived. Like “temperature” as an intensive quantity plays a major role in equilibrium thermodynamics, “action” as an extensive quantity takes the counterpart in this very far-from-equilibrium behaviour.