Physics of Highly Charged Ions

Abstract

During the last ten to fifteen years an almost explosive progress could be obtained in the Physics of Highly Charged Ions. To summarize this progress in all important results is the principal aim of Volume 13 of SPRINGERS Series in Electrophysics. The qualification of the authors for this work is beyond any question. They have been active in the field under consideration for a long time and have contributed to the progress mentioned.Of course the limited volume of the book requires a rigorous selection and weightening of the facts.Particular attention is paid to the presentation of theoretical methods. Here the reader gets an excellent general view of the recent developments and the present state in the theory of multiply charges ions.Experimental results are mostly used only for the illustration of the theoretical models. The description of the experimental techniques (equipments, measuring methods etc.) is outside the scope of the book.The well devided monograph starts with an (rather short) introduction, containing some historical remarks and the summary of the application aspects of highly charged ions. In several fields of applied physics and technology such ions are of increasing importance. Examples are: High Temperature Plasma Physics (especially controlled Thermonuclear Fusion), Astrophysics (especially Solar Physics), Accelerator-Based' Physics, Material Sciences and Laser Research.The two following chapters deal with the structure and the radiative processes of highly charged ions. The basic properties of the spectra caused by the strong and unshielded Coulomb field of the ions are discussed in great detail. One of the most characteristic features is the presence of so-called satellite lines which are emitted by ions of the preceding ionization stages. The satellite lines play an essential role in modern x-ray spectroscopy. Based on the solution of the corresponding eigenvalue problem the principles of the systematic calculation and classification of the spectra of highly charged ions (including both usual lines and satellites) are given. The correct interpretation of the spectra requires the inclusion of relativistic and radiative effects in the calculations. These effects increase as the ionic charge inreases.The main part of the monograph (chapters 4-9) is devoted to the large variety of collision processes of multi-charged ions.At first a detailed account on the existing theoretical description of excitation processes in electron-ion collisions a t non-relativistic energies is presented. The results of the different methods (R matrix, Generalized Quantum Defect Method, Asymptotic Expansion) are compared with the (rather scarce) experimental results.After that the electron-ion ionization processes are analysed taking into account mainly the direct and exchange channels of single-electron ionization. A comparison between theoretical and experimental results completes this analysis, too.The collisions of heavy particles (atoms, ions, molecules) with highly charged ions are the central problem of the m...

Charge exchange processes involving iron ions

“…Gilbody (1982) and de Heer (1983) have analyzed this subject from an experimental perspective, and the theory has been covered in a number of review articles, including those of Bransden (1983) and Janev and Presnyakov (1985).…”

Calculation of charge-changing cross-sections of ions or atoms colliding with fast ions using the classical trajectory method

“…In the low-energy region, i.e., when the projectile velocity is much slower than the least tightly bound electron in the target molecule, the charge-exchange process dominates over ionization. When the projectile velocity becomes much larger than the velocity of the least tightly bound electron in the target atom, the charge-exchange cross-section decreases rapidly [30]. The ionization cross-section decreases with increasing projectile energy, approaching for large energies, the (lnE)/E dependence of the Bethe formula (11) [1].…”

Ionization cross-sections for ion–atom collisions in high-energy ion beams

“…Therefore, it is important to assess the values of ion-atom ionization cross-sections. In contrast to electron and proton ionization cross-sections, where experimental data or theoretical calculations exist for practically any ion and atom, the knowledge of ionization cross-sections by fast complex ions and atoms is far from complete [1]. We have recently investigated theoretically and experimentally the stripping of more than 18 different pairs of projectile and target particles in the range of 3-38 MeV/amu to study the range of validity of both the Born approximation and the classical trajectory calculation [2,3].…”

“…More than a century ago, Thompson calculated the ionization cross-section in the limit vbv nl [1]. This treatment neglected the orbital motion of the target electrons and assumed a straight-line trajectory of the projectile, which gives [1]:…”