Electron Loss from Fast, Low-Charge-State Ions Colliding with Gases

Abstract

A selected-ion-flow-drift-tube study of charge transfer processes between atomic, molecular, and dimer ion projectiles and polyatomic molecules ethane, propane, and n-butane Abstract. Absolute cross sections for single and multiple projectile loss from MeV/u low-charge-state argon and xenon ions are presented. The impact energies were 0.74 and 1.4 MeV/u and the incoming charge states were 1,2 and 3. Using the present and data from the literature, it was shown that the multiple loss cross sections scale as (ΣBE) -n , where ΣBE is the sum of the binding energies required to remove a certain number of electrons. The power n was found to be velocity dependent, varying roughly from 2.5 to 1 for velocities ranging from approximately 0.2 to 20 (units of 10 8 cm/s).