INTERACTION OF AR-17-INCIDENCE( IONS ON METALLIC SURFACES AT GRAZING)

The interaction of Ar17+ ions on metallic surfaces has been studied at various incidence angles by looking at the x rays emitted in flight b y the ions with a crystal spectrometer. A model has been developed to describe the behavior of the ions outside the surface, and Dirac-Fock calculations of the Auger rates for states with many electrons in high -n states have been performed. The formation of hollow atoms outside t he surface, in high-n states, has been observed at grazing incidence, in contrast to the hollow atoms formed below the surface in lower-n st ates (n=3-4). The decay to the ground state of these very excited ions outside the surface represents less than 1% of the overall decays.