Inner shell ionization by heavy,charged particles and associated energy loss of the projectile

The process ofL- andM-shell ionization of atoms by heavy, charged particles is analysed in detail by a semiclassical, time-dependent perturbation method. The target electrons are described by non-relativistic hydrogenic wave functions. For the projectile is assumed a well-defined straight-line path. The Coulomb deflection and the screening is partially taken into account. The theoretical values of the total cross section is in reasonable agreement with experimental values. The condition of validity for the semi-classical method is shown to be fulfilled for all non-relativistic projectile energies. The projectile energy loss by ionization is further shown to be of negligible importance for the resolution of magnetic spectrographs used in nuclear structure physics.