Investigation of the energy loss of I in Au at energies below the Bragg peak

The energy loss of iodine in gold was investigated at energies below the Bragg peak. With the present work, the range of the available experimental data is extended to significantly lower energies, while the nuclear stopping power contribution is taken into account. Experiments were performed on thin film targets in reflection geometry. Electronic stopping cross sections were extracted by different approaches from experimental spectra. The obtained results have been compared to tabulated values from SRIM and previously published experimental data, where available. For all energies the obtained values are consistently higher than predicted by SRIM. Monte Carlo simulations (TRIM) have been performed to study path length distributions and the influence of nuclear stopping on the total energy loss. The results from the calculations indicate that the experimental geometry might be an important factor affecting the observed energy loss due to a selection of specific trajectories.