Surface Ionization of the Lanthanides

The surface ionization of Lanthanides: Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm and Eu, and its fluctuations (noises) have been studied using a double filament ion source in a 90° magnetic mass spectrometer. Using the Saha-Langmuir equation there were measured ionization potentials of LnO molecules as the dissociation products of the oxides Ln2O3 (the Ln symbol denotes the arbitrary rare earth elements: Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu). Ionic desorption energies of LnO molecules were determined using the fluctuation (noise) method.