Indications of Nuclear-Track-Guided Electrons Induced by Fast Heavy Ions in Insulators

We present experimental evidence for a deceleration of convoy electrons produced by 5MeV/u ions (N{sup 7+} , Ne{sup 10+} , S{sup 13+} , Ni{sup 23+} , and Ag{sup 37+} ) during the interaction with insulator foils at normal incidence. The deceleration first increases with increasing projectile charge, reaches a maximum at a projectile charge of about 16, and seems to approach zero for even higher charges. Different possible mechanisms and quantitative estimates for the slowing down of convoy electrons are presented. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}