Abstract

An experimental method for determining the equilibrium charge state of fast helium ions backscattered by solid Al-foils has been conducted using single Silicon Surface Barrier Detector (SBD) in a post acceleration system (PAS). The charge state measurements have been conducted to cover a wide energy range of the incident singly charged helium ion He⁺. The detected charge states increases from 0 to +Z with the incident ion's velocity. The method consists of measuring the charge states of ions after backscattering from the Al-foil as a function of projectile velocity and also finding the charge state distributions as a function of Al-foil thickness. The measurements are conducted for two types of Al-foil, one of which is thinner (2.5, 4.0, 5.4 ?g/cm²) and the other of which is of the order of an equilibrium foil thickness, where thicknesses of 6.8, 8.1, 9.5, and 10.8 were used. Ratios of equilibrium charge state yields for singly to doubly ionized He ions; He⁺¹ and He⁺², were also measured. The kinematics behavior of the measured He⁰, He⁺ and He⁺² fractions is understood by the well-known Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry technique (RBS). It has been shown that the dominant processes occurring to a fast He⁺ ions traversing Al-foil are the capture of the electron from the Al-atom to vacant state in the ion and the stripping of the bound electron from the He⁺ ion. The charge composition of the ion beams changes when it backscatters Al-foil, which thick enough for multiple atomic collisions, leading eventually to an equilibrium charge state distribution (ECSD). It was found that the theoretical calculations for electron-capture and loss ratios, based of semi-classical approach of Bianconi, are successful in describing the measured He ions. The satisfactory fits of the measured equilibrium charge state fractions (ECSF's) are mainly accounted to the contribution of both free valance electrons of the target and screened target nucleus in the calculation of total electron-loss cross sections. Bianconi approach is also applied to describe the measured mean equilibrium charges (MEC). The agreement between experiment and theory in this investigation is accounted to the reliability of the used post-acceleration system where all the backscattering charge-states, at certain incident ion's velocity, are separated and collected in one measurement.

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