Fundamentals of electron-ion interaction

A brief review on the physics of electron-ion collisions is given. After an introduction focussing on the applied importance of electron-ion interactions a discussion of experimental techniques based on colliding beams of electrons and ions follows. The main part deals with the different types of electron-ion collision processes. An overview is provided on (1) electronimpact ionization of ions, (2) electron scattering from ions, (3) electron-impact excitation of ions, and (4) recombination of ions with free electrons.