photoionization

[ foh-toh-ahy-uh-nuh-zey-shuhn ]

noun

, Physics.

1. the phenomenon in which the absorption of electromagnetic radiation by an atom in a gas induces the atom to emit a bound electron and thereby become ionized.

Word History and Origins

Origin of photoionization¹

First recorded in 1910–15; photo- + ionization ( def )

Example Sentences

They examine loss by mechanisms like Jeans escape, hydrodynamic escape, stellar winds, impact erosion, photoionization and photodissociation.

From Scientific American

Photoionization instability of the Fe K absorbing plasma in the neutron star transient AX J1745.6−2901.

From Nature

Elias Burstein, one of the pioneers in the optical physics of solids, whose research into the photoionization of impurities in silicon helped pave the way for the development of silicon semiconductors, died June 17 at his home in Bryn Mawr, Pa. He was 99.

From New York Times

For tens to hundreds of dollars, electrochemical or photoionization detection can notionally observe particular compounds or classes.

From Nature

We have indirectly tested this possibility by producing a single, non-laser-cooled Mg ion with a kinetic energy of several electronvolts by means of isotope-selective photoionization, and sympathetically crystallizing it with a single, laser-cooled Mg ion in the presence of the He buffer gas.

From Nature