Experimental investigations of two‐electron relaxation processes in Rydberg hollow atoms

Abstract

AbstractThe two‐electron relaxation processes in Rydberg hollow atoms (RHA), formed in collisions of slow highly charged ions (HCI) of Xe (q = 23–36) with metallic Be surface, were studied experimentally by means of X‐ray spectroscopy. The pulsed beams of HCI were delivered by the electron beam ion source while the emitted X‐rays were observed by a silicon drift detector. From the measured spectra of M‐X‐rays, dominated by the Paschen series of nf3d one‐electron‐one photon radiative (R) transitions, the relaxation processes involving two electrons, namely, the internal dielectronic excitation, interatomic Coulombic decay, two‐electron‐one photon transitions and the Auger transition (A), were extracted. The dead‐time effect in X‐ray detector for a pulsed ion beam of HCI was considered in order to estimate the Auger decay rates. Finally, we demonstrate that the present results give access to estimate a time‐scale of relaxation of RHA in solids.