One- and two-electron processes in collisions between hydrogen molecules and slow highly charged ions

A coincidence time-of-flight technique coupled with projectile charge state analysis was used to study electron capture in collisions between slow highly charged ions and hydrogen molecules. We found single electron capture with no target excitation to be the dominant process for both C6+ projectiles at a velocity of 0.8 atomic units and Ar11+ projectiles at v = 0.63 a.u. Double electron capture and transfer excitation, however, were found to be comparable and occur about 30% of the time relative to single capture. Most projectiles (96%) auto-ionize quickly following double capture into doubly excited states. The data are compared to classical and quantum mechanical model calculations. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.