Role of<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi>K</mml:mi></mml:math>-shell vacancies in determining charge-state fractions for heavy ions emerging from solids

Abstract

The development of projectile $K$ vacancies in heavy ions passing through solids has recently been studied using both target and projectile x-ray yields. The analysis of these results implies that the post-foil charge-state fractions will exhibit a target thickness dependence which is related to the vacancy production and quenching processes for the $K$ shell of the projectile as it moves in the solid. We report experimental results for the charge-state fractions of 54-MeV S ions on thin foils of C, Al, Ti, and Ni. We propose a model which accounts for both the target thickness and the target-atomic-number dependences of the individual charge-state fractions.