Transport of Hollow Atoms Through Thin Dielectric Films

We have determined exit charge states and energy losses of slow, highly charged gold ions after transmission of thin (7 ± 3 nm) diamond like carbon foils. Average charge states of up to 37+ were observed for Th80+ at 8.2 keV/u (0.57 vBohr). The final charge state is populated through re-arrangement processes after the projectile has left the foil. High final charge states indicate that none of the M-shell vacancies in Th80+ could be filled inside the foil. The increase of the average exit charge state as a function of M-shell vacancies is a sign of strongly enhanced X-ray fluorescent yields for hollow atom decay in vacuum.