ABSTRACT
Highly charged ions play a key role in many radiative and collisional processes occurring in laboratory and astrophysical plasmas and therefore they are a subject of detailed investigation in a special domain of atomic physics called the Physics of Highly Charged Ions. The radiation spectra of highly charged ions contain important information about plasma macro parameters such as electron and ion density and temperature, charge state distribution, polarization of x-ray radiation and provide an important diagnostic tool for investigations of laboratory and astrophysical plasma sources. Very specific radiative and collisional properties of highly charged ions are successfully used for many practical applications such as x-ray lithography, thermonuclear-fusion research, design of lasers operating in ultraviolet and x-ray spectral regions.
