Ion beam probing of atoms, molecules, plasmas and comets
Prof. Ronnie Hoekstra (Kernfysisch Versneller Instituut Groningen)

Low-energy interactions between multicharged ions and neutrals are dominated by electron transfer. Charge transfer can induce a whole variety of subsequent processes e.g. photon or electron emission, molecular fragmentation, and atomic recoils. These secundary processes can be used to probe for example electronic states of atoms, molecular stability, and fusion plasma, solar wind and cometary properties. General features of charge transfer and state-of-the-art results will be presented and several applications will be discussed.