Relativistic channeling of highly-charged ions—resonant coherent excitation, charge exchange, and energy loss

Abstract

Relativistic channeling experiments of highly-charged ions provide valuable information of a variety of atomic states and processes in the unique environment of a crystal. A periodic crystal potential forces an ion trajectory away from an atomic string/plane and depresses electron loss/capture probabilities. It leads to smaller energy loss, trajectory-dependent Stark level mixing due to the crystal field and resonant coherent excitation (atomic level excitation by the periodic crystal field) of highly-charged heavy ions. Recent progress at HIMAC is reported with an emphasis of resonant coherent excitation observed in charge exchange and energy loss of the highly-charged ions.