Electron Binding Energies for Highly Ionized Fission-Fragment Atoms

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Abstract
Due to the large velocities attained by fission fragments immediately upon fissioning, they are unable to carry along many of their outer orbital electrons and hence become highly ionized. The state of ionization in turn directly affects the binding energies of the various remaining electrons. We have calculated the K‐ and L‐electron binding energies for the typical fission fragment atoms Sr, Pd, Xe, and Sm in a number of ionic charge states ranging from the neutral state to the single‐electron state (ionic charge of Z−1). These calculated binding energies have been used to determine an empirical formula for computing the binding energies of atoms from Z=34 to Z=66 in any state of ionization with an estimated accuracy of ±80 eV. It was found that the K and L binding energies are both increased over the neutral atomic values by approximately 0.9 keV for the most probable ionic charges of the fission fragments (20+ to 26+), and consequently that the K x‐ray energies are almost unaffected.