Ionization and charge transfer in high-energy ion-atom collisions

Abstract

Electron capture and loss by fast highly charged ions in a gas target, and ionization of the target by passage of the fast projectile beam, are fundamental processes in atomic physics. These processes, along with excitation, can be experimentally studied separately (“singles”) or together (“coincidence”). This paper is a review of recent results on singles measurements for electron capture and loss and for target ionization, for velocities which are generally high relative to the active electron, including recent ionization measurements for a nearly relativistic projectile.