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We have employed the concept of the surface wake field to model the formation of the circular Rydberg states in the beam-foil experiments. The experimental studies of atomic excitation processes show the formation of circular Rydberg states either in the bulk of the foil or at the exit surface, and the mechanism is explained by several controversial theories. The present model is based on the interesting fact that the charge state fraction as well as the surface wake field depend on the foil thickness and it resolves a long-standing discrepancy on the mechanism of the formation of circular Rydberg states. The influence of exit layers is twofold. Initially, the high angular momentum Rydberg states are produced in the last layers of the foil by the Stark switching due to the bulk wake field and finally, they are transferred to the circular Rydberg states as a single multiphoton process due to the influence of the surface wake field.