Hypersatellite Kα Production in Trapped Ar Ions at KK Trielectronic Recombination Energies

Abstract

We report measurements of hypersatellite radiation of argon ions in the electron energy region of 5200 eV to 7500 eV. Here, we observed a strong enhancement of this hypersatellite (Formula presented.) production. Trielectronic recombination (TR) is discussed as a possible channel for (Formula presented.) production leading to this enhancement where main TR resonances are expected to occur. Data analysis was mainly based on the extracted intensity ratio of hypersatellite (Formula presented.) to (Formula presented.) lines ((Formula presented.)). In addition, the collisional excitation and the collisional ionisation of the K-shell ions were modeled as main background processes of the K (Formula presented.) X-ray production. The (Formula presented.) / (Formula presented.) intensity ratio shows a significant rise around 6500 eV electron energy by a factor of about two above the background level. This observation is compared with calculations of the expected electron energies for the resonant (Formula presented.) emission due to the KK TR process. The observed rise as a function of the electron collision energy, which occurs in the vicinity of the predicted TR resonances, is significantly stronger and energetically much wider than the results of theoretical calculations for the TR process. However, the experimental evidence of this process is not definitive.