ABSOLUTE CROSS-SECTION MEASUREMENTS FOR ELECTRON-IMPACT IONIZATION OF LI-LIKE N-4+, O+5+, AND NE-7+ IONS

Measured cross sections for single ionisation of Li-like N4+, O5+ and Ne7+ by electron impact are reported for energies from threshold to 2500 eV. The animated crossed beams method has been employed. In addition to direct ionisation, the 1s22s to 1s2l2l' excitation followed by autoionisation is shown to give a significant contribution to the total cross section, and its magnitude has been estimated for all three ions. Comparisons are made with other experimental results and different theoretical predictions. Cross sections for N4+ and O5+ are in a good agreement with previous results and the first result on Ne7+ ionisation is well reproduced by the Coulomb-Born calculations.