UV–VIS emissions from high energy heavy ions: mechanisms and applications to single-ion detection

We investigate two well known ultraviolet–visible (UV–VIS) photon emission processes from highly charged uranium ions with energies of 300- 700 MeV/u. By combining theoretical models with estimates from the literature, we evaluate fluorescence yields from air and transition radiation from surfaces. Experimental studies with slow-extracted \(U^{73+}\) beam at the high-energy beam transport line at GSI–FAIR confirm the feasibility of single-ion detection, with prototype detectors achieving up to 99.5\% efficiency. These findings establish UV–VIS emission as a robust method for fast, radiation-hard single-particle counting and provide a foundation for further optimization of optical collection and detector design.