The last decade has seen dramatic progress in the development of devices for producing mu1ticharged ions. Indeed it is now pos­ sible to produce any charge state of any ion right up through 92 fully-stripped uranium (U +). Equally dramatic progress has been achieved in the energy range of the available ions. As an example, fully-stripped neon ions have been produced in useable quantities with kinetic energies ranging from a few ev to more than 20 Gev. Interest in the atomic physics of multicharged ions has grown apace. In the fusion program, the spectra of these ions is an im­ portant diagnostic tool. Moreover the presence of mu1ticharged ions presents a serious energy loss mechanism in fusion devices. This fact has motivated a program to study the collision mech­ anisms involved. In another area, mu1ticharged ions are present in the solar corona and the interstellar medium and knowledge of their collision properties and spectra is essential to understand­ ing the astrophysics. Other possible applications are to x-ray lasers and heavy ion inertial fusion. On a more fundamental level, new possibilities for testing quantum electrodynamics with mu1ti­ charged ions have emerged.

Inhalt

Experimental Investigations of the Structure of Highly Ionized Atoms.- Highly Ionized Atoms in Tokamak Discharges.- Relativity in Electronic Structure: How and Why?.- Relativistic and QED Effects in Highly Ionized Atoms.- Electron Excitation Processes and Quantum Electrodynamics in High-Z Systems.- Positron Production in Heavy Ion-Atom Collisions.- Inner Shell Electrons in Superheavy Quasiatoms.- Inner Shell Capture in the Intermediate Velocity Range.- Charge Exchange Processes Involving Multicharged Ions: The Quasimolecular Approach.- Electron-Ion Collisions.- Production of Multiply Charged Ions for Experiments in Atomic Physics.- Channeling of Ions and Electrons in Crystals and Radiation from Channeled Electrons.- Theory of Low Energy Electron-Ion Processes for Medium to Highly Charged Ions.- Contributors.