Hypersatellite x-ray decay of 3d hollow-K-shell atoms produced by heavy-ion impact

We report on the radiative decay of double $K$-shell vacancy states produced in solid Ca, V, Fe, and Cu targets by impact with about 10 MeV/amu C and Ne ions. The resulting $K$ hypersatellite x-ray emission spectra were measured by means of high-energy-resolution spectroscopy using a von Hamos bent crystal spectrometer. The experiment was carried out at the Philips variable energy cyclotron of the Paul Scherrer Institute. From the fits of the x-ray spectra the energies, line widths, and relative intensities of the hypersatellite x-ray lines could be determined. The fitted intensities were corrected to account for the energy-dependent solid angle of the spectrometer, effective source size, target self-absorption, crystal reflectivity, and detector efficiency. The single-to-double $K$-shell ionization cross-section ratios were deduced from the corrected relative intensities of the hypersatellites and compared to theoretical predictions from the semiclassical approximation model using hydrogenlike and Dirac-Hartree-Fock wave functions and from classical trajectory Monte Carlo calculations.