Identification of hydrogen and deuterium at the surface of water ice by reflection electron energy loss spectroscopy

Abstract

A nondestructive method to distinguish between hydrogen (H) and deuterium (D) at surfaces by reflection electron energy loss spectroscopy is presented. It is based on the analysis of the energy distributions of electrons elastically backscattered from surfaces containing H or D. We consider standard and deuterated water ices as test surfaces. The recoil energy of the backscattered electrons depends on the atomic mass of the targets, and the contributions of H, D, and O to the measured spectra can be easily separated. The results of Monte Carlo simulations corroborate the experimental findings.