Honorary Doctorate Uppsala University, Sweden, 1999 Ph.D. University of Wisconsin, Physics, 1968M.S. Wesleyan University, Physics, 1963B.S. Colorado College, Mathmatics, 1961
I study ion, electron, and photon interactions with surfaces of low-temperature condensed-gas solids and biomolecular solids and with atmospheric gases. The principal processes studied are the ejection of molecules from the surface, called desorption or sputtering, and atomic collision cross sections. The applications are to surfaces and atmospheres of objects in the outer solar system or the interstellar medium, in order to understand the ambient gas or plasma observed, and samples of biomolecules, in order to produce a source of gas-phase biomolecules for studies in molecular biology.
Research Interests
Computation Materials Science
Selected Publications
Energetic Charged Particle Interaction with Atmospheres and Surfaces; Physics and Chemistry of Space. Springer Verlag (1990). Johnson, R. E.
Surface Boundary Layer Atmospheres, in Atmospheres in the Solar System: Comparative Aeronomy Geophysical Monograph 130, 203-219(2002). Johnson, R.E., Surface Chemisry in the Jovian Magnetosphere Radiation Johnson, R.E.
A New Model for Cosmic-rays Ion Erosion of Volatiles from Grains in the interstellar Medium, Astronphys. J. 603, 159-164 (2004). Bringa, E.M. and R.E. Johnson
Composition and Detection of Europa's Sputter-Induced Atmosphere, Chapter in Europa, Eds. R. Pappalardo et al. pp507-527 (2009). Johnson, R.E., M.H. Burger, T.A. Cassidy, F. Leblanc, M. Marconi, W.H. Smyth
"Mass Loss Processes in Titan's Upper Atmosphere", Chapter 15 in Titan from Cassini-Huygens (eds. R.H. Brown et al.) pp373-391, (2009). Johnson, R.E., O.J. Tucker, M. Michael, E.C. Sittler, H.T. Smith, D.T. Young, and J.H. Waite
"Photolysis and Radiolysis of Water Ice", Chapter 10 in Physics and Chemistry at Low Temperatures, L. Khriachtchev (Ed.) , World Scientific, Singapore, Published by Pan Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd. (2011). pp297-339. Johnson, R.E.
MOLECULAR-KINETIC SIMULATIONS OF ESCAPE FROM THE EX-PLANET AND EXOPLANETS: CRITERION FOR TRANSONIC FLOW, Astrophys J. Lett. 768:L4 (6pp), 2013. Johnson, R.E., A.N. Volkov and J.T. Erwin
Volatile Loss and Classification of Kuiper Belt Objects, ApJ 809, 43 (9pp) (2015). Johnson, R.E., A. Oza, L. Young, A. Volkov, C. Schmidt.
