Excitation of electron shells in fast structural ions and their contribution to ion energy losses

The energy lost by fast structural ions in collisions with atoms has been estimated based on the eikonal approximation. Structural ions are ions that consist of a nucleus and a number of its related electrons. It has been shown that taking account of interaction between the ion nucleus and an atom of the target in the eikonal approximation may considerably influence the effective stopping of the ion due to the excitation of its electron shells.