Electron capture by metastable Ar 8+ (2p 5 3s) ions in He

Single electron capture in low-energetic Ar8+ /He collisions has been studied, using projectiles in the (2p6 1So) ground state as well as in the excited (2ps 3 P 2,o) metastable states. In both cases capture occurs dominantly into the n = 4 levels with slightly different 1 - distributions. In the case of the metastable species the relative fractions of the final states which decay by autoionising or by photon emission are discussed and compared with theoretical predictions.