Experimental study of single-electron loss by Ar+ ions in rare-gas atoms

Abstract

Absolute differential and total cross sections for single-electron losswere measured for Ar+ ions on rare-gas atoms in the laboratoryenergy range of 1.5 to 5.0 keV. The electron loss cross sections for all thetargets studied are found to be in the order of magnitude between10-19 and 10-22 cm2, and show a monotonically increasingbehaviour as a function of the incident energy. The behaviour of the totalsingle-electron loss cross sections with the atomic target number, Zt,shows different dependences as the collision energy increases. In allcases the present results display experimental evidence of saturationin the single-electron loss cross section as the atomic number of thetarget increases.