Photoionization cross sections of halogen-like Kr+ and Xe+ ions have been measured in the photon energy range extending up to 15 eV above the threshold. Two different devices were used, a merged-beam set-up and an ion trap. Combination of the two techniques allows for the extraction of the pure ground state ionization cross section on an absolute scale. Multiconfiguration Dirac–Fock calculations reproduce the magnitude of the direct photoionization cross sections well.

Coupling an ion trap with synchrotron radiation is shown here to be a powerful approach to measure photoionization cross sections on ionic species relaxed in their ground state. The photoionization efficiency curve of Xe+ ions stored in a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance ion trap was recorded at ELETTRA in the 20-23 eV photon energy range. Absolute cross sections were derived by comparison of the photoionization yield of Xe+ with measurements from the ASTRID merged-beam experiment. Multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock calculations were performed for the interpretation of these new data.