On attending a conference on the Jovian satellites at UCLA, I heard Lou Lanze rotti vigorously present the exciting data on the sputtering of water ice by Me V protons taken with W. L. Brown at AT&T Bell Labs. In his inimitable way he made clear that this new electronic sputtering process was very poorly under stood and was very important for surface properties of sattelites. I was immedia tely hooked, and have been working ever since with Lanzerotti, Brown, my col league at Virginia, John Boring, and Bo Sundqvist at Uppsala on understanding the ejection of material from surfaces and applying laboratory results to intere sting planetary problems. In the course of writing this book I also had the benefit of spending a semester with the Planetary Geosciences group in Hawaii, thanks to Tom McCord, a period of time with Doug Nash at JPL, and a period ot time with the group at Catania. The book was started with the encouragement of Lou Lanzerotti. The writing has gone slowly as the field has been changing rapidly. Even now I feel it is incom plete, as the interesting Halley dust data have just recently been interpreted in detail, Voyager has recently visited Neptune, and the data on Pluto are rapidly improving. However, most of the principles for plasma ion alteration of surfaces and gases have been established allowing, I hope, a coherent and useful frame work for incorporating both new laboratory and planetary data.

Klappentext

The surfaces of interstellar and interplanetary grains, planetary satellites, ring particles, asteroids, Mercury and the Moon, etc. are all directly exposed to radiations. Solar wind, magnetospheric plasmas, cosmic rays, solar energetic particles, and U.V. photons can all produce chemical and physical alterations. These alterations affect the surface reflection properties and can eject species into the gas phase affecting the ambient gas and plasma. The physical processes involved are reviewed and the relevant data discussed. These are then applied to a number of outer solar system problems.

Inhalt
1 Introduction.- Background.- Plasma Environment.- Materials.- Overview of Effects Produced.- Units.- 2 Collision Physics.- Impact Parameter Cross Sections.- Elastic Collisions.- Interaction Potentials.- Inelastic Collisions.- Two-State Models: Charge Exchange.- Stopping Cross Section: Summary.- Appendix to Chapter 2.- 3 Interaction with Surfaces.- Particle Penetration and Implantation.- Secondary Particles and the Partitioning of Energy.- Spatial Distribution of Deposited Energy.- Chemical Alterations in the Gas Phase.- Solid State Radiolysis.- Sputtering of a Solid.- Sputtering of Multicomponent Materials.- Mixing, Adhesion, and Desorption.- Electronically Induced Desorption.- Sputtering of a Solid: Electronic Stimulation.- Track Production.- Chemical Effects in Sputtering.- Appendix to Chapter 3.- 4 Plasma Erosion and Modification of Natural Surfaces and Atmospheres.- Plasma Bombardment.- Sputter Erosion.- Changes in Surface Albedos.- Alteration of Surfaces.- Formation of New Molecules in the Surface.- Atmospheric Alterations.- Sputtering vs. Sublimation.- Sputtering in the Presence of Gravity.- Atmospheric Escape.- Plasma Heating and Production of an Extended Corona.- Production of a Neutral Torus.- Accumulation of a Magnetospheric Plasma.- Summary.- Appendix to Chapter 4.- References.- List of Symbols.- Bibliography of Useful Texts and Reviews.