Influence of a strong electric field on the decay of autoionizing states formed when multiply charged ions approach a metal surface

Upon collisions of multiply charged ions with a surface, the electric field of the image charge causes Stark splitting of the ion levels; in this case, the Stark states whose energy approaches the electron binding energy in the metal with a decrease in the distance to the surface are selectively occupied. It is shown that consideration of the electric field effect leads to an increase in the probability of Auger transitions in the presence of field. This effect changes our representations about the scheme of occupation of lower levels of multiply charged ions.