Ionization in Fast Atom-Atom Collisions: The Influence and Scaling Behavior of Electron-Electron and Electron-Nucleus Interactions

Abstract

We report cross sections for ionization of He coincident with electron loss from He, Li, C, O, and Ne projectiles. For He, Li, C, and O projectiles, the cross sections were measured directly, while the Ne cross sections were obtained by transforming results for He projectiles colliding with Ne. We find that, at energies of about 100-500 keV/u, neutral projectiles can ionize a He target almost as effectively as a charged projectile. The contribution to ionization due to electron-electron interactions is found to scale with the number of available projectile electrons. Comparing ionization by the bound electrons on projectiles to ionization by free electrons, we find that the cross sections for ionization by bound electrons are systematically smaller than those for free electrons.

Department(s)

Physics

Keywords and Phrases

Atom-Electron Collisions; Carbon; Helium Neutral Atoms; Lithium; Neon; Oxygen; Electron Impact Ionization; Atom-atom collisions; Collisions (Nuclear physics); Ionization

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2007 American Physical Society (APS), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Dec 2007

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