X-ray resonant photoexcitation: line widths and energies of Kα transitions in highly charged Fe ions
physics.atom-ph
/ Authors
J. K. Rudolph, S. Bernitt, S. W. Epp, R. Steinbrügge, C. Beilmann, G. V. Brown, S. Eberle, A. Graf, Z. Harman, N. Hell
and 7 more authors
M. Leutenegger, A. Müller, K. Schlage, H. -C. Wille, H. Yavas, J. Ullrich, J. R. Crespo López-Urrutia
/ Abstract
Photoabsorption by and fluorescence of the Kα transitions in highly charged iron ions are essential mechanisms for X-ray radiation transfer in astrophysical environments. We study photoabsorption due to the main Kα transitions in highly charged iron ions from heliumlike to fluorinelike (Fe 24+...17+) using monochromatic X-rays around 6.6 keV at the PETRA III synchrotron photon source. Natural linewidths were determined with hitherto unattained accuracy. The observed transitions are of particular interest for the understanding of photoexcited plasmas found in X-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei.