  In the past two decades, the electron-ion merged-beams technique has
extensively been exploited at heavy-ion storage rings equipped with electron
coolers for spectroscopic studies of highly charged ions as well as for
measuring absolute cross sections and rate coefficients for electron-ion
recombination and electron-impact ionization of multiply charged atoms ions.
Some recent results are highlighted and future perspectives are pointed out, in
particular, in view of novel experimental possibilities at the FAIR facility in
Darmstadt and at the Cryogenic Storage Ring at the Max-Planck-Institute for
Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg.
