This thesis studies the non-linear (Barkas) effects on stopping of fast moving molecular ions through solids. We model the solid target by a rigid lattice of positive ion cores surrounded by a gas of electrons. To model the electron gas we use a hydrodynamic model with a Thomas-Fermi-von Weizsacker expression for the internal energy. The disturbance to the charge density and velocity profile of the gas due to the intruder is assumed small and a perturbation expansion is used. The gas is assumed to be initially at rest. A derivation for the first and second order stopping force on an projectile due to the induced charge density of the target is given. Structure factors are introduced to capture the physics relating to the structure of the projectile and to allow maximum flexibility and generalization. The second order stopping force is calculated using a novel ”holepunch” integration method and is compared to other available methods. Results are obtained for the case of a dicluster of protons which are colinear with their direction of motion as well as for a dicluster of protons which are randomly oriented incident on an aluminum target and compared to the single proton case.

This thesis studies the non-linear (Barkas) effects on stopping of fast moving molecular ions through solids. We model the solid target by a rigid lattice of positive ion cores surrounded by a gas of electrons. To model the electron gas we use a hydrodynamic model with a Thomas-Fermi-von Weizsacker expression for the internal energy. The disturbance to the charge density and velocity profile of the gas due to the intruder is assumed small and a perturbation expansion is used. The gas is assumed to be initially at rest. A derivation for the first and second order stopping force on an projectile due to the induced charge density of the target is given. Structure factors are introduced to capture the physics relating to the structure of the projectile and to allow maximum flexibility and generalization. The second order stopping force is calculated using a novel ”holepunch” integration method and is compared to other available methods. Results are obtained for the case of a dicluster of protons which are colinear with their direction of motion as well as for a dicluster of protons which are randomly oriented incident on an aluminum target and compared to the single proton case.

Density functional theory is the most commonly used computational tool to study properties of solids and molecules. Self-interaction error, that arises due to improper cancellation of the self-Hartree and the self exchange correlation energy, has long been identified as a major limitation of practical density functional approximations. We develop and test the performance of different self-interaction corrected functionals in accurately predicting a wide range of properties. This work focuses on use of the Fermi-L\"{o}wdin orbital self-interaction correction (FLOSIC) method to study neutral water complexes and interaction of ions with water clusters. The strongly constrained and appropriately normed (SCAN) density functional approximation (DFA) has been found to give the correct energy ordering of low-lying isomers of water hexamers, resolves the density anomaly between water and ice, and improves the relative lattice energy of ice polymorphs and the infrared spectra of liquid water. However, SCAN is not without its drawbacks. The binding energies of water clusters and lattice energies of ice phases are overestimated by SCAN. We find that by explicitly removing the self-interaction error, the hydrogen-bond binding energy of water clusters can be significantly improved. In particular, self-interaction correction to the SCAN functional (FLOSIC-SCAN) improves binding energies without altering the correct energetic ordering of the low-lying water hexamers. So, orbital-by-orbital removal of self-interaction error applied on top of a proper DFA can lead to an improved description of water complexes. To gain further insight into the performance of different functionals on the relative stability of water clusters, we decompose the total interaction energy into many-body components. We see that the major portion of error in SCAN comes from the two-body interaction, and the FLOSIC-SCAN improves two-body interactions over SCAN and predicts higher-order many-body interactions with about the same accuracy as SCAN. The SCAN functional gives good account of monomer deformation energy (one-body energy), PBE estimated it too low and self-interaction corrected methods FLOSIC-PBE and FLOSIC-SCAN estimated too high monomer deformation energies. Improvement in the total interaction energy by FLOSIC-PBE and FLOSIC-SCAN is happening because of error cancellation by one-body interaction energy. Aqueous solutions of ions are of particular interest due to their profound applications in environmental chemistry, solvation mechanics, the desalination process, etc. This motivated us to study ion-water systems, which include hydronium ion-water clusters, hydroxyl ion-water clusters, halide ion-water clusters, and alkali ion-water clusters. The erroneous delocalization of the extra-electron in anions obtained with DFAs is basis-set dependent. DFAs like LSDA, PBE, or SCAN can bind only a fraction of the excess electron in the complete basis set limit, implying that a moderate-sized localized basis would be a good choice for them. But, accurate description of hydrogen bonds often requires a large basis with some extra diffuse functions. So, in negatively charged hydrogen-bonded systems like deprotonated water clusters, the suitable choice of basis-set is both difficult and ambiguous. We explore this issue systematically in this work. Further, we have found that the better performance by application of FLOSIC is seen in all systems that are connected at least with one hydrogen bond and the error in the binding energy decreases with increase in the size of an ion or equivalently decreases with the length of the hydrogen bond. Moreover, within the same ion-water system, error in the binding energy decreases with increase in the size of the cluster. Non-hydrogen-bonded water-alkali clusters are not affected by the self-interaction errors. / Physics

[pt] Um espectrômetro de massa PDMS-252Cf-TOF (Time-of-Flight Plasma Dessorption Mass Spectrometry) foi usado para analisar amostras condensadas de água pura e misturas de H2O:C2H2, H2O:C2H6 e H2O:N2O, em temperaturas entre 10 e 100 K. Os íons dessorvidos devido ao impacto foram identificados e seus rendimentos de dessorção determinados. Observa-se que a distribuição desses rendimentos em função da massa dos íons pode ser descrita pela soma de duas exponenciais. Este resultado sugere fortemente que ocorrem dois processos de formação de agregados: um, via emissão direta de fragmentos do sólido e outro, via recombinação de fragmentos na fase gasosa. Para H2O puro, os principais agregados dessorvidos são: ((H2O)nH2O+, (H2O)nH3O+, On +, (H2O)nO−, (H2O)nOH− e On −. Para misturas de gelos H2O:C2H2 e H2O:C2H6, são observadas as séries (C2H2)n + e (C2H6)n +. Para H2O:N2O, as séries Nn +, (O)nN2 +, (O)nN2−, (O)nN4−, e (N2)nNO+ são as mais abundantes. A Teoria do Funcional da Densidade (DFT), no nível B3LYP/6-31G, foi usada para calcular a estabilidade molecular dos íons moleculares secundários emitidos. Cálculos para as estruturas C2Hm + (com m = 1 a 6) geraram 26 estruturas estáveis. As curvas de estabilidade por massa/carga obtidas são comparadas com aquelas obtidas experimentalmente para os rendimentos de dessorção por massa/carga para os mesmos íons. Tal metodologia é utilizada para prever as conformações mais prováveis dos íons dessorvidos. / [en] A PDMS-252Cf-TOF (Time-of-Flight Plasma Desorption Mass Spectrometry) mass spectrometer was used to analyze condensed samples of pure water and mixtures of H2O:C2H2, H2O:C2H6 and H2O:N2O, at temperatures between 10 and 100 K. The ions desorbed due to the projectile impact were identified and their desorption yields determined. It is observed that the yield distributions as a function of the mass of the ions can be described by the sum of two exponentials. This result strongly suggests that two processes of aggregate formation occur: one, via direct emission of fragments from the solid and the other, via recombination of fragments in the gas phase. For pure H2O, the main desorbed aggregates are: ((H2O)nH2O+, (H2O)nH3O+, On +, (H2O)nO−, (H2O)nOH− and On −. For mixtures of ices H2O:C2H2 and H2O:C2H6, the series (C2H2)n + and (C2H6)n + are observed. For H2O:N2O, the series Nn +, (O)nN2 +, (O)nN2−, (O)nN4−, and (N2)nNO+ are the most abundant. Density Functional Theory (DFT), at the B3LYP/6-31G level, was used to calculate the molecular stability of emitted secondary molecular ions. Calculations for the C2Hm + structures (with m = 1 to 6) generated 26 stable structures. The stability curves per mass/charge obtained are compared with those obtained experimentally for the desorption yields per mass/charge for the same ions. Such methodology is used to predict the most likely conformations of the desorbed ions.