Soft x-ray emission from solar wind charge exchange in the laboratory

Abstract

We have observed the emission spectra in collisions of bare oxygen ions with a helium gas target in the soft x-ray region with a window-less silicon drift detector at the collision energy range of 48–80 keV. The dominant soft x-ray emission corresponds to the 1s–2p transition of hydrogen-like oxygen O7+ produced by the single-electron charge exchange reaction. Other emission lines are the 1s–3p, 1s–4p and 1s–5p transitions of O7+, and also the 1s2–1s2p transition of O6+ produced by the true double-electron capture. The cascades from the upper states result in a large population of the 2p state, even though the direct capture into the 2p state is extremely scarcer than those into the 3p, 4p and 5p states.