Figure 1.

Energy deposition by swift heavy and highly charged ions. (a) Total stopping power S (continuous lines) of various ion species (H, Xe, U) in graphite as a function of the kinetic energy of the projectile calculated with SRIM. The contribution of nuclear stopping $S_n$ is plotted with dashed lines, of electronic stopping $S_e$ with dotted lines. The data for protons is shown in the inset. (b) Potential energy $E_{pot}$ of a Xe ion as a function of its charge state q (blue bars). The green bars depict the ionization energy $E_I$ of the last electron. Jumps in the ionization energy occur after an electron shell has been completely emptied.