電子遷移誘起脱離研究の先駆者，石川義興博士および太田芳雄博士の業績紹介

抄録

  Dr. Yoshioki Ishikawa is a pioneer who carried out systematic electron stimulated desorption (ESD) investigations for hydrogen adsorbed on a clean platinum plate (H₂/Pt) under ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) conditions in 1942. (His name is spelled as Yosioki Isikawa in the original papers.) Although his papers are referred in several papers on desorption induced by electronic transitions (DIET), these seem to be not as well-known as famous ones by Menzel, Gomer, and Redhead in 1964. We describe his pioneering work in this article. He developed an UHV apparatus made of glass with a Pt plate and an oxide cathode pumped by a small mercury pump via a liquid air trap. Clear ESD signals were observed for H₂/Pt at excitation energies of 8, 12, 14, 33-46, and 46-51 eV. He assigned the desorbate to atomic hydrogen (H), because it was pumped by a glass wall baked above 350°C. Based on these results and the potential curves of H₂ in the gas phase, he proposed a model for the ESD of H from H₂/Pt; that is, the first step is an electronic transition of adsorbed H₂, and the second is the desorption of H along the repulsive potential surface of the excited state. This was the first introduction of the notion of DIET. He also carried out an ESD study of H₂O/Pt in 1943. We also introduce achievements by Dr. Yoshio Ohta, who was another pioneer in the field of DIET. He measured electron-stimulated ion desorption from an oxidized Ni plate. He found that the threshold excitation energy for ion desorption is 22 eV, and that the kinetic energy of the desorbed ion is 1∼2 eV. To explain these results, he also proposed the concept of DIET.