Abstract
In this paper, we present an experimental and theoretical study of excitation processes for the heaviest stable helium-like ion, that is, He-like uranium occurring in relativistic collisions with hydrogen and argon targets. In particular, we concentrate on angular distributions of the characteristic Kα radiation following the K → L excitation of He-like uranium. We pay special attention to the magnetic sub-level population of the excited 1s2lj states, which is directly related to the angular distribution of the characteristic Kα radiation. We show that the experimental data can be well described by calculations taking into account the excitation by the target nucleus as well as by the target electrons. Moreover, we demonstrate for the first time an important influence of the electron-impact excitation process on the angular distributions of the Kα radiation produced by excitation of He-like uranium in collisions with different targets.
Highlights
The excitation of an electron bound to an ion is one of the fundamental atomic processes taking place in ion-atom collisions
We present an experimental and theoretical study of the angular distributions for the Kα radiation produced by K-shell excitation of He-like uranium in relativistic collisions with H2 and Ar targets
In contrast to the case of H-like uranium [28], here we demonstrate for the first time a clear role of the electron-impact excitation (EIE) process in the angular distributions of the Kα radiation for the excitation of He-like uranium in collisions with different targets
Summary
The excitation of an electron bound to an ion is one of the fundamental atomic processes taking place in ion-atom collisions. In [14,15], it has been shown that in relativistic collisions between a highly-charged ion and a light atom, resulting in the excitation of the ion, the target electrons and nucleus can be considered as acting independently in the collision process. The relative contribution of the two processes is different for different targets, for example, the relative contribution of EIE would be largest for a hydrogen target, whereas for heavy targets the excitation will be dominated by the contribution due to the target nucleus This property can be exploited to experimentally access the EIE process for the heaviest H- and He-like ions. We present an experimental and theoretical study of the angular distributions for the Kα radiation produced by K-shell excitation of He-like uranium in relativistic collisions with H2 and Ar targets. In contrast to the case of H-like uranium [28], here we demonstrate for the first time a clear role of the EIE process in the angular distributions of the Kα radiation for the excitation of He-like uranium in collisions with different targets
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