Electron transfer and projectile excitation in single collisions

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Studies of electron transfer (capture) and projectile excitation occuring together in a single encounter are reviewed. This combined capture and excitation can result from either a correlated or an uncorrelated interaction. The correlated process is referred to as resonant transfer and excitation (RTE), while the uncorrelated process is called nonresonant transfer and excitation (NTE). RTE is analogous to dielectronic recombination (DR) which occurs in the interaction between an ion and a free electron. Experimental and theoretical works leading to establishing the existence of RTE are reviewed as well as considerations relevant to distinguishing RTE from NTE. The dependences of RTE on projectile atomic number (14≤ Z≤23) for Li-like ions, and on projectile charge state for H-like to Ne-like ions have been measured and compared with theory. The effect of the target electron momentum distribution on RTE has been demonstrated by comparing measurements for H 2 and He targets. Measurements of RTE involving L-shell excitation have been conducted and compared with K-shell results. All of the measured RTE cross sections to date for H 2 and He targets are in reasonable agreement with calculations based on theoretical DR cross sections averaged over the target electron momentum distribution; however, systematic discrepancies between experiment and theory exist. Additionally, it has been found that RTE can contribute considerably to total single-electron capture cross sections in the region where RTE is important, accounting for nearly half of the total capture events for calcium ions colliding with H 2.