Electron-impact excitation of W40+–W43+ ions: Cross-section and polarization

Abstract

Electron-impact excitation of tungsten ions [Formula: see text] has been studied using the fully relativistic distorted wave (RDW) theory. The excitation cross-sections of selected electric dipole allowed transitions of these ions to be determined for the incident electron energies from the excitation threshold to 20 keV. Further, the calculated cross-section results are fitted with an analytical expression for direct applications in plasma modeling. In addition, using the density matrix theory, the linear polarization of the photons emitted from the excited tungsten ions when decay to their respective ground states is presented.