Plasmon dispersion effects for surface plasmon mediated proton neutralization at Mg surfaces

Abstract Transition rates for surface plasmon-assisted electron capture by H + ions interacting with Mg surfaces have been calculated. We show that the plasmon dispersion and the representation of the initial metal state significantly change the transition rates with respect to previous calculations. In particular, the ion perturbation on the initial state greatly increases the transition rates at large ion–surface distances which is consistent with the results obtained by other authors for the Auger process.