Highly excited states of sulphur projectiles inside a carbon target

Abstract

The satellite and hypersatellite K X-ray lines emitted by sulphur projectiles (with energies 9.6, 16.0, 22.4, 32.0, 65, 79, 99 and 122 MeV) passing through carbon foils (with different thickness varying from 15 to 210 μg/cm2) have been measured using a Si(Li) detector. We use a theoretical model based on the single-configuration Dirac–Fock calculations and equilibrium charge state distribution to interpret the experimental K X-ray spectra parameters. For all projectile energies, we evaluate the probability of K-hole creation, the average population of L-shell, and the average population of the 3p and 4p subshells. In the case of 9.6–32.0 MeV beam energy we evaluate also the population of L and M shells of sulphur projectiles. For the energy range 65–122 MeV, we estimate the probability of appearance of the most important configurations. The lifetimes of the studied states is also deduced.