title: New source of MeV negative ion and neutral atom beams.
abstract: The scenario of "electron-capture and -loss" was recently proposed for the formation of negative ion and neutral atom beams with MeV kinetic energies. However, it does not explain why the formation of negative ions in a liquid spray is much more efficient than with an isolated atom. The role of atomic excited states in the charge-exchange processes is considered, and it is shown that it cannot account for the observed phenomena. The processes are more complex than the single electron-capture and -loss approach. It is suggested that the shell effects in the electronic structure of the projectile ion and/or target atoms may influence the capture/loss probabilities.
authors.affiliation: Center for Relativistic Laser Science, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Gwangju 500-712, South Korea.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ter-Avetisyan
authors.affiliation: Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy, Berlin 12489, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Braenzel
authors.affiliation: Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy, Berlin 12489, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schnürer
authors.affiliation: Institute for Laser and Plasma Physics, Heinrich Heine University, Duesseldorf 40225, Germany.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Prasad
authors.affiliation: School of Mathematics and Physics, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast BT7-1NN, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Borghesi
authors.affiliation: Centre Lasers Intenses et Applications, CEA, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, 33405 Talence, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jequier
authors.affiliation: Centre Lasers Intenses et Applications, CEA, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, 33405 Talence, France.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tikhonchuk