High-resolution X-ray study of the multiple ionization of Pd atoms by fast oxygen ions

Abstract

The multiple ionization of the L- and M-shells of Pd by fast oxygen ions has been studied by measuring with high-resolution the satellite structures of the Lα1,2 X-ray transitions. Relativistic multi-configuration Dirac-Fock (MCDF) calculations were used to interpret the complex X-ray spectrum, allowing to derive the number of L- and M-shell spectator vacancies at the moment of the X-ray emission. After correcting these numbers for the atomic vacancy rearrangement processes that take place prior to the X-ray emission, the ionization probabilities corresponding to the collision time were obtained. The latter were compared to predictions of the semiclassical approximation (SCA) and the geometrical model. The SCA calculations were performed using relativistic hydrogenic and self-consistent Dirac-Hartree-Fock (DHF) electronic wave functions. It was found that the use of the more realistic DHF wave functions in the SCA calculations leads to a much better description of the measured ionization probabilities for both the L- and M-shells.