Highly ionized, decelerated heavy ions

Abstract The Acceleration-Stripping-Deceleration Method to produce highly-charged, heavy ions at moderate velocities is described. A brief survey of the method and experiments already done is given. For 3.6 MeV u few-electron Xe projectiles (up to N-like ions) colliding with Xe atoms we describe one example for quasimolecular L-K vacancy transfer and one for distant capture processes.