Abstract
The photoelectric effect has been studied in the regime of hard x rays and strong Coulomb fields via its time-reversed process of radiative recombination (RR). In the experiment, the relativistic electrons recombined into the excited state of hydrogenlike uranium ions, and both the RR x rays and the subsequently emitted characteristic x rays were detected in coincidence. This allowed us to observe the coherence between the magnetic substates in a highly charged ion and to identify the contribution of the spin-orbit interaction to the RR process.
- Received 29 June 2014
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.113001
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Published by the American Physical Society