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.