Recoil by Auger electrons: Theory and application

Interatomic and Intermolecular Coulombic Decay

Interatomic or intermolecular Coulombic decay (ICD) is a nonlocal electronic decay mechanism occurring in weakly bound matter. In an ICD process, energy released by electronic relaxation of an excited atom or molecule leads to ionization of a neighboring one via Coulombic electron interactions. ICD has been predicted theoretically in the mid nineties of the last century, and its existence has been confirmed experimentally approximately ten years later. Since then, a number of fundamental and applied aspects have been studied in this quickly growing field of research. This review provides an introduction to ICD and draws the connection to related energy transfer and ionization processes. The theoretical approaches for the description of ICD as well as the experimental techniques developed and employed for its investigation are described. The existing body of literature on experimental and theoretical studies of ICD processes in different atomic and molecular systems is reviewed.

Photon-Momentum-Induced Molecular Dynamics in Photoionization of N_{2} at hν=40 keV

We investigate K-shell ionization of N_{2} at 40 keV photon energy. Using a cold target recoil ion momentum spectroscopy reaction microscope, we determine the vector momenta of the photoelectron, the Auger electron, and both N^{+} fragments. These fully differential data show that the dissociation process of the N_{2}^{2+} ion is significantly modified not only by the recoil momentum of the photoelectron but also by the photon momentum and the momentum of the emitted Auger electron. We find that the recoil energy introduced by the photon and the photoelectron momentum is partitioned with a ratio of approximately 30∶70 between the Auger electron and fragment ion kinetic energies, respectively. We also observe that the photon momentum induces an additional rotation of the molecular ion.

On the making of aromatic organometallic superalkali complexes

First principle calculation on Au₃(Py)₃ and Au₃(IMD)₃ systems shows that they are superalkali and exhibit good nonlinear optical property.

Organic heterocyclic molecules become superalkalis

A new strategy has been developed to create superalkali molecules from aromatic heterocycles. C₃N₂(CH₃)₅ has the ionization energy close to 3.0 eV.