A gas cell experiment for charge exchange cross sections with highly charged ions

Observations of x-rays from highly charged ions in astrophysical plasmas motivates the study of these systems in the laboratory. The dominant process involving highly charged ions is charge exchange between the ion and neutrals. We present a gas cell experiment, optimized for experiments with highly charged ions, for measuring the total charge exchange cross sections for velocity-resolved ion beams interacting with neutrals. Preliminary results with $\textrm{Ar}^+$ beams interacting with neutral Ar are consistent with published results. We extend the study to measure the scaling of the cross-sections for 1 - 5 keV $\textrm{Ne}^{q+}$, $\textrm{Ar}^{q+}$, and $\textrm{Kr}^{q+}$ (q = 1) beams interacting with neutral atoms and molecular nitrogen. Further work will investigate the scaling of the cross sections with target atomic number Z for multi-charged noble gas ions interacting with neutrals.