Collisions of Highly Stripped Ions at MeV Energies in Gas Targets: Charge Transfer and Ionization

We have measured cross sections for charge transfer and ionization in H2 and rare-gas targets by fast, highly ionized Carbon, iron, niobium, and lead ions in charge states +3 to +59, with energies in the range 0.1-4.8 MeV/amu. Experimental results are compared with classical-trajectory calculations; agreement is generally good. For a given target, the cross sections for net ionization reduce to a common curve when plotted as cross section divided by charge state versus energy per nucleon divided by charge state.