Multiple ionization effects in atomic collisions in the K-L matching region

The multiple ionization effect in the determination of 3dσ vacancy production cross sections and sharing probabilities in asymmetric quasimolecular collisions near K-L level matching, for the collision systems Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu + Bi in the energy range 0.25 - 1.75 MeV/u have been studied. The experimental energy and intensity shifts of some projectile and target X-ray lines, as well as Dirac-Hartree-Fock calculations, have been used to estimate average single particle probabilities for multiple ionization of projectile L- and target M-shells. Using these estimates and a standard procedure, the experimental 3dσ vacancy production cross sections and sharing probabilities have been corrected for multiple ionization. The influence of the multiple ionization-induced increase in binding energy of the molecular orbitals implied in vacancy sharing is discussed. (Author)