Atomic Collision Experiments Utilizing Low-Velocity, Highly-Charged Ion Beams

Intense beams of highly-stripped ions are now routinely produced at low velocities using the Brookhaven dual MP-tandems in a unique four-stage accel/decel mode. This mode of operation combines three stages of acceleration, stripping at high energy, and one stage of deceleration to near-zero velocity. To date, experiments have used 10-100 nA beams of bare and few-electron heavy ions at energies as low as 0.2 MeV/amu, and upgrades of the facility should push the lower limit below 0.1 MeV/amu. Recent experiments, such as measurements of charge transfer and x-ray production for S6-16+ on He and Ar at 6-20 MeV and P(b) measurements for MO x-rays produced in Cl16+ + Ar collisions at 20, 10 and 5 MeV have demonstrated the usefulness of highly-stripped, low-velocity projectiles. These experiments and a few possibilities for future experiments are discussed.