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A. B. Voitkiv

Publications and source records attributed to A. B. Voitkiv.

54 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Dynamics of correlated transfer-ionization in collisions with a fast highly charged ion

Transfer-ionization in fast collisions between a bare ion and an atom, in which one of the atomic electrons is captured by the ion whereas another one is emitted, crucially depends on dynamic electron-electron correlations. We show that in collisions with a highly charged ion a strong field of the ion has a very profound effect on the correlated channels of transfer-ionization. In particular, this field weakens electron emission into the direction opposite to the motion of the ion and strongly suppresses the emission perpendicular to this motion. Instead, electron emission is redirected into those parts of the momentum space which are very weakly populated in fast collisions with low charged ions.

physics.atom-ph↗

Excitation of highly charged hydrogen-like ions by the impact of equivelocity electrons and protons: a comparative study

We consider excitation of highly charged hydrogen-like ions by the impact of equivelocity electrons and protons. The kinetic energy of the protons is more than three orders of magnitude larger than that of the equivelocity electrons. It is shown, however, that despite this fact, the electrons can be much more effective in inducing excitation at collision velocities (slightly) above the threshold for electron impact excitation. The basic reason for this is the strong distortion of the motion of the electron by the attractive field of the nucleus of the highly charged ion.

physics.atom-ph↗

On the dynamics of transfer-ionization in fast ion-atomic collisions

We consider trasfer-ionization in collisions of fast (3.6 -- 11 MeV/u) protons, alpha-particles and lithium nuclei with helium atoms. There are just a few basic mechanisms contributing to this process which can be grouped into correlated ones, which crucially depend on the electron-electron interaction, and uncorrelated, which do not need this interaction to proceed. We show that by exploring momentum spectra of the emitted electrons the correlated and uncorrelated mechanisms can be cleary separated from each other. This exploration also enables one to get insight into subtle details of the dynamics of transfer-ionization.

physics.atom-ph↗

Excitation of heavy hydrogen-like ions by light atoms in relativistic collisions with large momentum transfers

We present a theory for excitation of heavy hydrogen-like projectile-ions by light target-atoms in collisions where the momentum transfers to the atom are very large on the atomic scale. It is shown that in this process the electrons and the nucleus of the atom behave as (quasi-) free particles with respect to each other and that their motion is governed by the field of the nucleus of the ion. The effect of this field on the atomic particles can be crucial for the contribution to the excitation of the ion caused by the electrons of the atom. Due to comparatively very large nuclear mass, however, this field can be neglected in the calculation of the contribution to the excitation due to the nucleus of the atom.

physics.atom-ph↗

Resonantly enhanced photoionization in correlated three-atomic systems

Modifications of photoionization arising from resonant electron-electron correlations between neighbouring atoms in an atomic sample are studied. The sample contains atomic species A and B, with the ionization potential of A being smaller than the energy of a dipole-allowed transition in B. The atoms are subject to an external radiation field which is near-resonant with the dipole transition in B. Photoionization of an atom A may thus proceed via a two-step mechanism: photoexcitation in the subsystem of species B, followed by interatomic Coulombic decay. As a basic atomic configuration, we investigate resonant photoionization in a three-atomic system A-B-B, consisting of an atom A and two neighbouring atoms B. It is found that, under suitable conditions, the influence of the neighbouring atoms can strongly affect the photoionization process, including its total probabilty, time development and photoelectron spectra. In particular, by comparing our results with those for photoionization of an isolated atom A and a two-atomic system A-B, respectively, we reveal the characteristic impact exerted by the third atom.

physics.atom-ph↗

Young-type interference in projectile-electron loss in energetic ion-molecule collisions

Under certain conditions an electron bound in a fast projectile-ion, colliding with a molecule, interacts mainly with the nuclei and inner shell electrons of atoms forming the molecule. Due to their compact localization in space and distinct separation from each other these molecular centers play in such collisions a role similar to that of optical slits in light scattering leading to pronounced interference in the spectra of the electron emitted from the projectile.

physics.atom-ph↗

Resonant two-photon single ionization of two atoms

Resonant two-photon ionization in a system consisting of two spatially well-separated atoms is studied. Due to two-center electron-electron correlations, the ionization may also proceed through photo-excitation of both atoms with subsequent interatomic Coulombic decay. We show that this channel may dominate the photoionization process and qualitatively change its dependence on the field intensity and the spectra of emitted electrons.

physics.atom-ph↗

Two-center resonant photo ionization

Photoionization of an atom $A$, in the presence of a neighboring atom $B$, can proceed via resonant excitation of $B$ with subsequent energy transfer to $A$ through two-center electron-electron correlation. We demonstrate that this two-center mechanism can strongly outperform direct photoionization at nanometer internuclear distances and possesses characteristic features in its time development and the spectrum of emitted electrons.

physics.atom-ph↗

Symmetric eikonal model for projectile-electron excitation and loss in relativistic ion-atom collisions

At impact energies $ \stackrel{>}{\sim}1$ GeV/u the projectile-electron excitation and loss occurring in collisions between highly charged ions and neutral atoms is already strongly influenced by the presence of atomic electrons. In order to treat these processes in collisions with heavy atoms we generalize the symmetric eikonal model, used earlier for considerations of electron transitions in ion-atom collisions within the scope of a three-body Coulomb problem. We show that at asymptotically high collision energies this model leads to an exact transition amplitude and is very well suited to describe the projectile-electron excitation and loss at energies above a few GeV/u. In particular, by considering a number of examples we demonstrate advantages of this model over the first Born approximation at impact energies $\sim 1$--30 GeV/u, which are of special interest for atomic physics experiments at the future GSI facilities.

physics.atom-ph↗

Two-center dielectronic recombination

In the presence of a neighboring atom, electron-ion recombination can proceed resonantly via excitation of an electron in the atom, with subsequent relaxation through radiative decay. It is shown that this two-center dielectronic process can largely dominate over single-center radiative recombination at internuclear distances as large as several nanometers. The relevance of the predicted process is demonstrated by using examples of water-dissolved alkali cations and warm dense matter.

physics.atom-ph↗

Inelastic collisions of relativistic electrons with atomic targets assisted by a laser field

We consider inelastic collisions between relativistic electrons and atomic targets assisted by a low-frequency laser field in the case when this field is still much weaker than the typical internal fields in the target. Concentrating on target transitions we show that they can be substantially affected by the presence of the laser field. This may occur either via strong modifications in the motion of the relativistic electrons caused by the electron-laser interaction or via the Compton effect when the incident electrons convert laser photon(s) into photons with frequencies equal to target transition frequencies.

physics.atom-ph↗

Relativistic electron-ion recombination in the presence of an intense laser field

Radiative recombination of a relativistic electron with a highly charged ion in the presence of an intense laser field is considered. Various relativistic effects, caused by the high energy of the incoming electron and its strong coupling to the intense laser field, are found to clearly manifest themselves in the spectra of the emitted $γ$-photons.

physics.atom-ph↗

Bound-bound pair production in relativistic collisions

Electron-positron pair production is considered in the relativistic collision of a nucleus and an anti-nucleus, in which both leptons are created in bound states of the corresponding nucleus-lepton system. Compared to free and bound-free pair production this process is shown to display a qualitatively different dependency both on the impact energy and charged of the colliding particles. Interestingly, at high impact energies the cross section for this process is found to be larger than that for the analogous atomic process of non-radiative electron capture although the latter does not involve the creation of new particles.

physics.atom-ph↗

The interaction between the projectile and the target core in single ionization of helium by 100 MeV/u C$^{6+}$ and 1 GeV/u U$^{92+}$ ions

We consider single ionization of helium by fast highly charged ions. The ionization is treated as a three-body problem which involves the 'active' target electron, the target core (consisting of the target nucleus and the 'passive' target electron) and the projectile-ion. We show that, unless the transverse momentum transfer in the collision is large, the deviation of the interaction between the projectile and the target core from the purely coulomb law has a weak effect on the ionization. In particular, the account of this deviation does not enable one to get an agreement with experimental data on the fully differential cross section for the electron emission into the so called perpendicular plane.

physics.atom-ph↗

A new mechanism for electron transfer in fast ion-atomic collisions

We discuss a new mechanism for the electron capture in fast ion-atom collisions. Similarly like in the radiative capture, where the electron transfer occurs due to photon emission, within the mechanism under consideration the electron capture takes place due to the emission of an additional electron. This first order capture process leads to the so called transfer-ionization and has a number of interesting features, in particular, in the target frame it results in the electron emission mainly into the backward semi-sphere.

physics.atom-ph↗

Simultaneous loss and excitation of projectile electrons in relativistic collisions of U$^{90+}$(1s$^2$) ions with atoms

We study relativistic collisions between helium-like uranium ions initially in the ground state and atoms in which, in a single collision event, one of the electrons of the ion is emitted and the other is transferred into an excited state of the residual hydrogen-like ion. We consider this two-electron process at not very high impact energies, where the action of the atom on the electrons of the ion can be well approximated as occurring solely due to the interaction with the nucleus of the atom and, hence, the process can be regarded as a four-body problem. Using the independent electron model we show that a very substantial improvement in the calculated cross sections is obtained if, instead of the first order approximation, the relativistic symmetric eikonal and continuum-distorted-wave-eikonal-initial-state models are employed to describe the single-electron probabilities for the excitation and loss, respectively.

physics.atom-ph↗

Relativistic time dilatation and the spectrum of electrons emitted by 33 TeV lead ions penetrating thin foils

We study the energy distribution of ultrarelativistic electrons produced when a beam of 33 TeV Pb$^{81+}$(1s) ions penetrates a thin Al foil. We show that, because of a prominent role of the excitations of the ions inside the foil which becomes possible due to the relativistic time dilatation, the width of this distribution can be much narrower compared to the case when the ions interact with rarefied gaseous targets. We also show that a very similar shape of the energy distribution may arise when 33 TeV Pb$^{82+}$ ions penetrate a thin Au foil. These results shed some light on the origin of the very narrow electron energy distributions observed experimentally about a decade ago.

physics.atom-ph↗

Four-body quantum dynamics of two-center electronic transitions in relativistic ion-atom collisions and target recoil momentum spectroscopy

We consider relativistic collisions of heavy hydrogen-like ions with hydrogen and helium atoms in which the ion-atom interaction causes both colliding particles to undergo transitions between their internal states. Using an approach enabling one, for the first time, to give a detailed description of this important case of the relativistic quantum few-body problem we concentrate on the study of the longitudinal momentum spectrum of the atomic recoil ions. We discuss the role of relativistic and higher order effects, predict a surprisingly strong influence of the projectile's electron on the momentum transfer, draw the general picture of the recoil ion formation and show that the important information about the doubly inelastic collisions could be obtained in experiment merely by measuring the recoil momentum spectrum.

physics.atom-ph↗