Radiative recombination of twisted electrons with hydrogen-like heavy ions: Linear polarization of emitted photons

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates how twisted electrons recombine with heavy ions and how this process affects the linear polarization of emitted x-ray photons, with implications for ion beam diagnostics and internal structure probing.

Contribution

It introduces a density matrix approach to analyze polarization transfer in recombination of twisted electrons with heavy ions, including realistic beam scenarios.

Findings

Twisted electrons enable enhanced diagnostics of spin-polarized ion beams.

The polarization of emitted x-rays depends on the angular momentum of the incident electrons.

The approach can probe internal ion beam structures with inhomogeneous spin and intensity patterns.

Abstract

We present a theoretical investigation of the radiative recombination of twisted Bessel electrons with initially hydrogen-like (finally helium-like) heavy ions. In our study, we focus especially on the linear polarization of x-ray photons emitted in the electron capture into the ground $1s^2_{1/2}$ ionic state. Particular emphasis is placed on the question of how this polarization is affected if incident hydrogen-like ions are themselves spin-polarized. To explore such a "polarization transfer" we apply the density matrix theory and derive the Stokes parameters of recombination x-rays for the realistic case of collisions between macroscopic electron and ion beams. Based on the developed general approach two scenarios are discussed that are of interest for the planned experiments at ion storage rings. First, we demonstrate how the use of twisted electrons can empower the known method for the diagnostics of spin-polarized ion beams, based on the rotation of the linear polarization of recombination light. In the second scenario we show how the internal structure of ions beams with inhomogeneous intensity and spin patterns can be probed by the capture of Bessel electrons, carrying different values of angular momentum.