Study of open-shell ions in an electron-beam ion trap

Abstract
We present a technique using the Livermore electron-beam-ion-trap (EBIT) to produce and study inner-shell excitation of highly charged ions with an open-shell configuration. Specifically, we produced and studied iron ions in the Li- through F-like charge state employing transient ionization techniques. Time-dependent K-shell x-ray spectra were recorded with a high-resolution Bragg crystal spectrometer, and the spectra are compared to ionization balance calculations.