Multiple Ionization and Excitation Processes in Single Ion-Atom Collisions

Abstract

The topic of multiple ionization and excitation processes occurring in collisions between highly charged heavy ions and atomic targets has received heavy experimental and theoretical attention for at least the past decade. Much of the activity in the field arose from the increasing availability to atomic physicists of accelerators capable of producing fast beams of highly stripped ions, the wealth of complex phenomena produced by the rapid and transient introduction of extremely large perturbing forces into otherwise stable atomic systems, and a desire to unravel that complexity with simple models. Considerable progress has been made toward cataloguing, quantifying, and understanding these processes, but many results are still unexplained and new realms of the atomic structure and collision physics of highly charged ions remain unexplored, awaiting new technologies and daring ideas.