Abstract

The study of photoionization of isolated ions, because of its experimental difficulties has lagged that of neutrals even though ions are far more abundant in nature. Here we propose experiments to study the importance of electron correlation- the effect of the motion of one electron on that of all the others- in ions. Correlation effects are often examplified by multiple ionization and/or excitation in photoionization processes. The initial experiment described here consists of measuring the cross sections for single and multiple photoionization of several species. Because of the low density targets and the need for high resolution, the spectral brilliance of a Free Electron Laser (FEL) will be required.

© 1988 Optical Society of America