K-shell excitation studied for H- and He-like bismuth ions in collisions with low-z target atoms

The formation of excited projectile states via Coulomb excitation is investigated for hydrogen- and helium-like bismuth projectiles (Z=83) in relativistic ion-atom collisions. The excitation process was unambiguously identified by observing the radiative decay of the excited levels to the vacant 1s shell in coincidence with ions that did not undergo charge exchange in the reaction target. In particular, owing to the large fine structure splitting of Bi, the excitation cross-sections to the various L-shell sublevels are determined separately. The results are compared with detailed relativistic calculations, showing that both the relativistic character of the bound-state wave-functions and the magnetic interaction are of considerable importance for the K-shell excitation process in high-Z ions like Bi. The experimental data confirm the result of the complete relativistic calculations, namely that the magnetic part of the Lienard-Wiechert interaction leads to a significant reduction of the K-shell excitation cross-section. (orig.)SIGLEAvailable from FIZ Karlsruhe / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

Electron bremsstrahlung in collisions of 223 MeV/u He-like uranium ions with gaseous targets

The bremsstrahlung process in the domain of strong Coulomb fields has been investigated for N_2 and Ar target electrons colliding with He-like uranium ions at 223 MeV/u. The doubly differential cross sections for bremsstrahlung were measured at the laboratory observation angles of 48 , 90 , and 132 . Substantial discrepancies were found between the experimental cross secions and the first order Born approximation calculations. The reported data provide a new testing ground for non-perturbative treatment of the coupling between radiation and matter in the presence of strong fields. (orig.)SIGLEAvailable from FIZ Karlsruhe / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

First experiment with decelerated bare uranium ions conducted at the ESR storage ring

The deceleration capabilities of the ESR have been used for the first time in a dedicated ground state QED experiment conducted at the gasjet target of the ring. By decelerating bare uranium ions from 358 MeV/u down to energies of as low as 49 MeV/u, X-ray spectra have been obtained which provide an abundant yield of characteristic X-ray transitions. The experiment demonstrates that, by choosing the appropriate beam energy and gasjet target, almost all excited projectile states can be selectively populated. Moreover, the experiment provides the first data for beam lifetimes of stored decelerated high-Z ions. Such data are essential for the design of future experiments dealing with decelerated ion beams far below 50 MeV/u. (orig.)Available from TIB Hannover: RO 801(96-34) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Charge-exchange cross sections and beam lifetimes for stored and decelerated bare uranium ions

Charge-exchange cross sections and beam lifetimes are studied for decelerated bare uranium ions at the ESR storage ring. By deceleration from the initial energy of 358 MeV/u down to various energies as low as 49 MeV/u, i.e. far below the production energy of bare ionic species, the electron pick-up cross sections were obtained for collisions with N_2, Ar, CH_4 and Kr gaseous targets. The measured cross sections and beam lifetimes are compared with the theoretical results for radiative and non-radiative electron capture. The present data along with the theoretical approximations discussed, provide a solid basis for the estimation of beam lifetimes for decelerated bare high-Z ions. Moreover, a normalization procedure is proposed, in which absolute total charge-exchange cross sections are derived by normalizing the simultaneously measured yield of K-REC photons to rigorously calculated relativistic cross sections. This method along with the unprecedented beam conditions at the ESR storage ring, allows a significant improvement in the accuracy of cross section data. (orig.)SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: RO 801(98-42) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman