Isotopic fractionation in low-energy ion implantation

The evolutions of planetary atmospheres and other solar system reservoirs have been affected by a variety of fractionating mechanisms. It has been suggested that one of these mechanisms could be low-energy ion implantation. Bernatowicz and Hagee [1987] showed that Kr and Xe implanted at low energy onto tungsten are fractionated by approximately 1% per amu, favoring the heavy isotopes; we confirm these effects. We have extended these studies to Ar and Ne, using a modified Bayard-Alpert type implanter design of cylindrical symmetry with collector potentials of -40 to -100 V, and observe systematically larger mass dependent isotopic fractionation for argon and neon, greater than or equal to 3% per amu and greater than or equal to 4% per amu, respectively. These fractionations scale approximately as Delta m/m for all of the noble gases measured, consistent with the findings of Bernatowicz and coworkers. Experimental data at higher energies and predictions by TRIM (Transport of Ions in Matter) code simulations indicate that sticking probabilities may depend upon the mass ratios of projectile and target. Many natural environments for low-energy ion implantation existed in the early solar nebula, such as in dusty plasmas or in the interaction of the bipolar outflow with small grains or in the wind of the early active Sun with accreting planetesimals. Low-energy ions provide viable sources for gas loading onto nebular dust grains; the result is isotopic and elemental fractionation of the projectiles.