Relativisticab initiodescription of theK-vacancy production in heavy-ion–atom collision systems with solid targets

We investigate the problem of ion--solid-target collisions by means of a time-dependent coupled-channel description using ab initio relativistic four-component linear-combination-of-atomic-orbital molecular-orbital (LCAO-MO) wave functions as a basis. Large-impact-parameter calculations allow us to determine how the L and M shells of initially low ionized projectiles are fully stripped within a few atomic layers of the solid target. Once the inner-L-shell vacancies are created, our narrow-impact-parameter calculations give very good agreement with experimental results on K-shell vacancy production. As an example, we compare our results with measurements of 40.6-MeV Ar⁴⁺ and Ar¹²⁺ ions on Ca solid targets.