Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 043001 (2003) [4 pages]Observation of Trielectronic Recombination in Be-like Cl Ions |
M. Schnell1, G. Gwinner1, N. R. Badnell2, M. E. Bannister3, S. Böhm4, J. Colgan5, S. Kieslich4, S. D. Loch5, D. Mitnik6, A. Müller4, M. S. Pindzola5, S. Schippers4, D. Schwalm1, W. Shi4, A. Wolf1, and S.-G. Zhou1,7
1Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
2Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G4 0NG, United Kingdom
3Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
4Institut für Kernphysik, Justus-Liebig-Universität, 35392 Giessen, Germany
5Department of Physics, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849, USA
6Departamento de Física, Universidad de Buenos Aires, FCEyN Buenos Aires (C1428EGA), Argentina
7School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Received 14 March 2003; published 21 July 2003
Recombination involving the core excitation of two electrons, which may be termed trielectronic recombination, has been experimentally identified for the first time. Using Cl13+ ions circulating in the TSR heavy-ion storage ring, we have observed surprisingly strong low-energy trielectronic recombination resonances, comparable to the dielectronic process. At higher electron-ion collision energies, trielectronic recombination is suppressed due to the autoionization of the triply excited intermediate state into excited final states. The formation of the intermediate state depends sensitively on configuration mixing, making trielectronic recombination a challenge to atomic-structure calculations.
©2003 The American Physical Society
URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v91/e043001
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.043001
PACS: 32.70.Fw, 32.80.Dz, 34.80.Lx
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