Applications of Atom-Photon Coincidence Measurements to Charge Transfer

Measurements have been made of the polarization of characteristic radiation of excited states, formed in charge exchange collisions, in delayed time coincidence with the neutral particles formed and scattered during the collision. Such information directly provides ratios of populations of orbital magnetic sublevels and phase differences between scattering amplitudes. This relative phase data, in conjunction with an appropriate model of the collision process, has provided insights into the evolution of the electronic charge distribution during the collision process. These techniques are also being applied to ion-molecule charge transfer collisions.