Polarization and alignment transfer in heavy hydrogen-like ions following radiative electron capture

The radiative capture of spin-polarized electrons into the excited states of bare, highly-charged ions is studied within the framework of Dirac's relativistic theory. Special emphasis is placed on the magnetic sublevel population of the 2p(3/2) states following both, the direct electron capture and the cascade feeding from high-lying levels. Computations are performed in order to explore how this sublevel population depends on the energy of the projectile ion as well as on the spin-polarization of the electron target. In particular, we show that the orientation of the 2p(3/2) state is sensitive to the electron polarization and, hence, may be used for determining the polarization properties of either the electron target or projectile ions. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.