Electron transfer and decay processes of highly charged iodine ions

In the present experimental work we have investigated multi-electron transfer processes in Iq+ (q = 10, 15, 20 and 25) + Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe collisions at 1.5q keV energy. Using the coincidence technique between charge-selected projectile and recoil ions, the branching ratios between Auger and radiative decay channels have been measured in decay processes of multiply excited states formed by multi-electron transfer collisions. By combining these ratios with the measured absolute cross sections for total and single electron transfer processes, the partial cross sections for various charge changing processes have been determined. It has been shown that, in all the multi-electron transfer processes investigated, the Auger decays are far dominant over the radiative decay processes and the branching ratios are clearly characterized by the average principal quantum number <n> of the initial excited states of projectile ions, estimated from the extended classical-over-barrier-model (ECBM). We could express the branching ratios in high Rydberg states formed in multi-electron transfer processes by using the decay probability of one Auger electron emission