Excitation and alignment effects in Ar8+-Cs(6s,6p) collisions at low energies

The influence of the excitation and the alignment of a laser-prepared target on the final nlml distributions are studied in Ar8+-Cs(6pΣ) and Ar8+-Cs(6pΠ) collisions. These collisions are studied experimentally by means of near UV and visible photon spectroscopy (200-600 nm) in the 0.4-4.0 keV/amu energy range, and theoretically by using the three-body classical trajectory Monte Carlo (CTMC) method at 0.1-4.0 keV/amu. Calculations of electronic energies for the one-electron {Ar7+-Cs}+ molecular system have allowed an analysis of the results in terms of dynamical couplings. Polarization rates for single-electron-capture lines corresponding to transitions between high-l values states are also measured. The comparison with those calculated from the CTMC results provides information about the magnetic sublevel distributions and the influence of the initial alignment of a laser-prepared target