Single and multiple electron loss processes in MeV heavy ion-target collisions

Experimental data, derived from the study of interactions between Mev heavy ions and gaseous targets, are presented which illustrate important physical aspects such as the dependence of cross sections on projectile velocity, and projectile and target atomic numbers. Included are data which reflect the importance of the electron binding energy, the existence of shell effects, the possibility of target polarizability, and the presence of non-additivity and density effects in electron loss processes. Charge state yield versus scattering angle, a prescription for relating total single electron loss cross section per atom, atomic and molecular target data and formulas which predict electron loss cross sections with reasonable accuracy are also given. 28 refs