Investigation of the distribution of (n,l) states populated by beam-foil excitation of 32-MeV oxygen ions

The decay curves for 2p-1s and 3p-1s transitions in 32-MeV H-like oxygen projectiles excited by a thin carbon foil have been measured and compared with the results of a cascade computer program which calculates the intensities of these transitions for an assumed initial distribution of excited states as a function of decay time. The measured decay curves agreed best with those predicted by the cascade program using an l-independent population probability proportional to $n^{\mathrm{-}4}$ for each state.