Measurement of Dielectronic Recombination Rates for the Iron Ions Fe IX-XI

Iron is injected into a well-diagnosed θ-pinch plasma. The intensities of lines from various ionization stages are measured as functions of time and interpreted by means of a time-dependent corona ionization-recombination model. Effective coefficients for dielectronic recombination at electron densities Nₑ≈3×10¹⁶ cm^-3 are equal to or smaller than presently accepted theoretical values for low-density plasmas. Rate coefficients for ionization tend to be smaller than theoretical values.