hide
Free keywords:
-
Abstract:
We report linear polarization measurements of x rays emitted due to dielectronic recombination into highly
charged krypton ions. The ions in the He-like through O-like charge states were populated in an electron-beam
ion trap with the electron-beam energy adjusted to recombination resonances in order to produce
K
α
xrays.
The x rays were detected with a newly developed Compton polarimeter using a beryllium scattering target
and 12 silicon x-ray detector diodes sampling the azimuthal distribution of the scattered x rays. The extracted
degrees of linear polarization of several dielectronic recombination transitions agree with results of relativistic
distorted-wave calculations. We also demonstrate a high sensitivity of the polarization to the Breit interaction,
which is remarkable for a medium-
Z
element like krypton. The experimental results can be used for polarization
diagnostics of hot astrophysical and laboratory fusion plasmas.
