Study of Mg Kα x-ray multiplet structure observed in ion-atom collisions

High-resolution measurements of Mg Kα x-ray spectra excited by 1-3-MeV/amu H⁺, He⁺, O²⁺, Ne²⁺, and S⁴⁺ ions have been performed for Mg metal and some of its compounds. A detailed examination of the multiplet structure of the KL¹, KL², and KL³ satellite groups revealed substantial variations in the intensities of various components as a function of projectile velocity and atomic number, and as a function of the chemical composition of the target. A theoretical spectrum was constructed using transition energies obtained from "corrected" single-configuration Hartree-Fock results and assuming a statistical population of all initial states belonging to the same electron configuration. This theoretical spectrum agreed quite favorably with the experimental spectrum for Mg metal obtained with 5.4-MeV He⁺ ions.