First experimental data of sulphur ions sputtering water ice

TL;DR

This study provides the first experimental measurements of sulphur ion sputtering yields on water ice, revealing yields higher than theoretical predictions and discussing implications for Europa's atmosphere.

Contribution

It presents novel experimental data on sulphur ion sputtering yields on water ice, including molecular and atomic comparisons, with implications for planetary atmospheres.

Findings

Sputtering yields exceed theoretical predictions by 2-3 times.

Molecular sputtering yields are twice as high as expected.

Enhanced sulphur sputtering impacts Europa's atmospheric models.

Abstract

This paper presents the first experimental sputtering yields for sulphur ions with energies between 10 keV and 140 keV irradiating water ice films on a microbalance. The measured sputtering yields exceed theoretical predictions based on other ion species by a factor of 2 to 3 for most energies. Moreover, the sputtering yield of SF+ molecules is compared to the yield of atomic species S+ and F+. As found for atomic versus molecular oxygen, the sputtering yield caused by molecules is two times higher than expected. Finally, the implications of the enhanced sulphur sputtering yield for Europa's atmosphere are discussed.