Shakeoff Ionization near the Coulomb Barrier Energy

We measure the projectile K x-ray spectra as a function of the beam energies around the Coulomb barrier in different collision systems. The energy is scanned in small steps around the barrier aiming to explore the nuclear effects on the elastically scattered projectile ions. The variation of the projectile x-ray energy with the ion-beam energies exhibits an unusual increase in between the interaction barrier and fusion barrier energies. This additional contribution to the projectile ionization can be attributed to the shakeoff of outer-shell electrons of the projectile ions due to the sudden nuclear recoil (∼10^{-21}  sec) caused by the attractive nuclear potential, which gets switched on near the interaction barrier energy. In the sudden approximation limit, the theoretical shakeoff probability calculation due to the nuclear recoil explains the observed data well. In addition to its fundamental interest, such processes can play a significant role in dark matter detection through the possible mechanism of x-ray emissions, where the weakly interacting massive particle-nucleus elastic scattering can lead to the nuclear-recoil-induced inner-shell vacancy creations. Furthermore, the present work may provide new prospects for atomic physics research at barrier energies as well as provide a novel technique to perform barrier distribution studies for two-body systems.

Note: Multi channel Doppler tuned spectrometer to study highly charged ions

We describe the design and implementation of a multi channel Doppler tuned spectrometer setup to study physics of highly charged ions at high resolution in a direct way. A unique Soller slit assembly coupled with a long one dimensional position sensitive proportional counter enables us to get distinct x-ray peaks at different angles, which allows us to cover large number of angle in one shot. By using this setup, 1s2s (3)S1 - 1s(2) (1)S0 M1 transition in He-like Fe has been resolved from its satellite line 1s2s2p ⁴P(5/2)⁰ - 1s(2)2s (2)S(1/2) M2 transition in Li-like Fe and measured the lifetime of their respective upper levels with high precision.

Fast ion surface energy loss and straggling in the surface wake fields

We have measured the stopping powers and straggling of fast, highly ionized atoms passing through thin bilayer targets made up of metals and insulators. We were surprised to find that the energy losses as well as the straggling depend on the ordering of the target and have small but significantly different values on bilayer reversal. We ascribe this newly found difference in energy loss to the surface energy loss field effect due to the differing surface wake fields as the beam exits the target in the two cases. This finding is validated with experiments using several different projectiles, velocities, and bilayer targets. Both partners of the diatomic molecular ions also display similar results. A comparison of the energy loss results with those of previous theoretical predictions for the surface wake potential for fast ions in solids supports the existence of a self-wake.