Theoretical study of orientation effects in multiple ionization of molecules by fast ion impact

The dependence of multiple ionization cross section on the orientation of the molecular axis in collisions of fast ions with diatomic and linear triatomic molecules is studied theoretically. The ionization process is described within the statistical energy deposition model. The energy transferred in the collision is calculated within the unitary-convolution approximation by Schiwietz and Grande. The impact-velocity dependence of the orientation effect as well as its dependence on the molecular properties are studied.