Strong higher-order resonant contributions to x-ray line polarization in hot plasmas.

We studied angular distributions of x rays emitted in resonant recombination of highly charged iron and krypton ions, resolving dielectronic, trielectronic, and quadruelectronic channels. A tunable electron beam drove these processes, inducing x rays registered by two detectors mounted along and perpendicular to the beam axis. The measured emission asymmetries comprehensively benchmarked full-order atomic calculations. We conclude that accurate polarization diagnostics of hot plasmas can only be obtained under the premise of inclusion of higher-order processes that were neglected in earlier work.