The only existing heavy-ion accelerator in Greece, the 5.5 MV TANDEM at the National Research Center “Demokritos” in Athens has been used to date primarily for investigations centering around nuclear physics. Here, we propose to establish the new (for Greece) discipline of Atomic Physics with Accelerators, a strong field in the EU with important contributions to fusion, hot plasmas, astrophysics, accelerator technology and basic atomic physics of ion-atom collision dynamics, structure and technology. This will be accomplished by combining the existing interdisciplinary atomic collisions expertise from three Greek universities, the strong support of distinguished foreign researchers and the high technical ion-beam know-how of the TANDEM group into a cohesive initiative.Using the technique of Zero-degree Auger Projectile Spectroscopy (ZAPS), we shall complete a much needed systematic isoelectronic investigation of K-Auger spectra emitted from collisions of pre-excited ions with gas targets using novel techniques. Our results are expected to lead to a deeper understanding of the neglected importance of cascade feeding of metastable states [1] in collisions of ions with gas targets and further elucidate their role in the non-statistical production of excited three-electron states by electron capture, recently a field of conflicting interpretations awaiting further resolution.
Storage rings for heavy-ion atomic and nuclear physics
