Path-length distribution of ions reflected from a solid: Theory and computer simulation

Theoretical methods and Monte Carlo procedure are used to study path-length distributions of ions reflected from a solid. The theoretical analysis is based on the solution of the integral Chandrasekhar equation for the Laplace transform of the distribution function. A family of curves is obtained for path-length distributions at several ion energies and mass ratios of ions and target atoms. A computer code for simulation is based on the approximation of pair collisions and a gas model of solid. The simulated results are compared with the theoretical results and published data.