Kα x-ray satellite and hypersatellite spectra of vanadium metal and oxides excited in heavy-ion collisions

The spectra of vanadium Kα x rays excited in targets of vanadium metal, VO, V₂O₄, and V₂O₅ by 15 MeV∕amu projectiles of Ne, Ar, Kr, Ag, and Ho have been measured with a curved-crystal spectrometer. The spectra were analyzed to extract the relative intensities and energies of Kα satellites and hypersatellites emitted in the decay of states having single and double K vacancies, respectively, plus additional vacancies in the L shell ranging from zero to seven. The intensity distributions, energies, and hypersatellite to satellite intensity ratios were examined for chemical effects. The parameters of a “universal” scaling function were obtained for the description of Kα x-ray hypersatellite intensity distributions excited by heavy-ion collisions in solid targets.