Radiative recombination between free electrons and bare carbon ions

Abstract

Absolute rate coefficients for radiative recombination between fully stripped carbon ions and free electrons have been measured for relative energies between 0 an 1 eV. The experiment was performed with a merged-beam technique. A fast-pulsing technique was used to turn on and off the electron source to allow subtraction of background signals stemming from electron capture in the rest gas. The data are compared with the theory for radiative recombination, as derived by Stobbe in 1930 and by Bethe and Salpeter in 1957. The present data constitute the first direct test of the theory for radiative recombination.