Polarization Measurements of Radiative Electron Capture Transitions in Highly Charged Ions

A dedicated Si(Li) Compton polarimeter combining energy and time resolution with a large detection area of 64×64 mm2 and a two dimensional position resolution of 2 mm has been used for the first time to study the polarization of x‐rays emitted via radiative electron capture (REC) into the K and L‐shell of heavy highly charged ions. First data for the collision system 96.6 MeV/u U92+→H2 are presented. The angular distribution of the Compton scattered photons inside the detector indicates that both K‐ and L‐REC processes lead to the emission of strongly linearly polarized light.