Extraction of highly charged ions from the Berlin Electron Beam Ion Trap for interactions with a gas target

Abstract

Highly charged ions are extracted from the Berlin Electron Beam Ion Trap for investigations of charge exchange with a gas target. The classical over-the-barrier model for slow highly charged ions describes this process, whereby one or more electrons are captured from the target into Rydberg states of the ion. The excited state relaxes via a radiative cascade of the electron to ground energy. The cascade spectra are characteristic of the capture state. We investigate x-ray photons emitted as a result of interactions between Ar17+ ions at energies ≤5q keV with Ar atoms. Of particular interest is the velocity dependence of the angular momentum capture state lc. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.