Eur. Phys. J. D 54, 623-628 (2009)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2009-00206-6

Two-photon coincidence studies of highly-charged ion relaxation in solids

¹ Department of Atomic Physics, Stockholm University, 10405 Stockholm, Sweden
² Horia Hulubei National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Bucharest, Romania

Corresponding author: ^a zpesic@uranus.phy.bg.ac.yu

Received: 27 April 2009
Revised: 8 June 2009
Published online: 17 July 2009

Abstract

We studied the relaxation of hollow atoms by two-photon transitions during the stopping of slow (E=8.5q keV) highly charged Pb^q+ (q=53–58) ions in a thin Ta foil. The X-rays emitted during the relaxation process were detected in coincidence with two Si(Li) detectors. Particular attention was paid to the role of the internal dielectronic excitation (IDE) in the relaxation dynamics. We found a clear contribution to relaxation by the IDE process also for projectiles with initial M-shell vacancies and IDE speeds up relaxation of electrons from high Rydberg states by directly filling vacancies in the N-shell that is accompanied with the excitation of M-shell electrons. We discuss the relaxation mechanism, and present results for the fluorescence yield and the IDE probability of highly charged Pb ions in a solid.