Spatial distribution of ion charges in fast, partially stripped clusters traversing solid targets

Joint statistical description of the distribution of ion charge states and the spatial structure of a cluster, made of heavy ions, allows a self-consistent generalization of the Brandt-Kitagawa variational theory, including dynamically-screened inter-ionic interactions, in a form of a non-linear integral equation. Solution of such an equation for fast clusters passing very thin foils shows the familiar reduction of charge per ion, compared to the charge on an isotactic ion, which is rather non-homogeneously distributed throughout the volume of the cluster. As a consequence, the distribution of individual ion charges in the cluster exhibits large dispersion around an average value, which drops with the increasing cluster size