Observation of rainbow scattering in ion transmission through grapheneShow others and affiliations
2026 (English)In: Carbon, ISSN 0008-6223, E-ISSN 1873-3891, Vol. 257, article id 121746Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The rainbow effect is a fundamental phenomenon in scattering theory, describing the accumulation of trajectories at characteristic angles associated with Jacobian singularities of the scattering map. In atomically thin materials, rainbow scattering patterns are highly sensitive to projectile-target interactions and lattice symmetry, yet experimental observation has remained elusive. We report the experimental observation of rainbow scattering in ion transmission through single-layer graphene. For 40 keV Xe+ ions, a circular outer rainbow at 5.28°, associated with maximum binary collision deflection from individual carbon atoms, and a hexagonal inner rainbow at 0.43°, originating from projectiles interacting with multiple carbon atoms, are observed. Molecular dynamics and binary collision simulations reproduce these regimes but fail to capture the measured intensity distribution at the smallest deflection angles when using radially symmetric interaction potentials. These results establish graphene rainbow scattering as an experimental benchmark for interatomic potentials and reveal limitations of common approximations in many-body scattering dynamics.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2026. Vol. 257, article id 121746
Keywords [en]
Rainbow effect, Graphene, Ion-solid interaction, Particle scattering phenomena, Interaction potentials
National Category
Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-593019DOI: 10.1016/j.carbon.2026.121746ISI: 001796992400001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105041225828OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-593019DiVA, id: diva2:2083840
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2023-00155German Research Foundation (DFG), 278162697German Research Foundation (DFG), 4616057772026-07-032026-07-032026-07-03Bibliographically approved