ORIENTATION PROPENSITY FOR STATES POPULATED BY ELECTRON-CAPTURE IN B3+ HE COLLISIONS/

The orientation of the (1s(2)2p)P-2 excited state of the doubly charge d B2+ ions, resulting from electron capture in collisions of triply ch arged B3+ ions with He, is investigated theoretically. The collision d ynamics are described using a quasi-molecular adiabatic representation of the system and calculations are carried out in the range of ion en ergies from 0.3 to 1.5 keV. Our results, which are in excellent agreem ent with experiment, confirm the strong propensity for orientation of the P-2 state at small scattering angles. The main contributing factor s responsible for the orientation are carefully analysed.