Spectra of the triply charged ion CS(2)(3+) and selectivity in molecular Auger effects

A virtual stretch of light pulse interval by pulsed electron extraction introduced into a magnetic bottle electron spectrometer

A pulsed extraction of electrons associated with a single light pulse is introduced into electron time-of-flight measurement by using a magnetic bottle electron spectrometer. The pulsed extraction enables us to observe long times-of-flight of electrons with synchrotron radiation pulses of short periods. The feasibility and the performance of this method are demonstrated by multielectron coincidence measurements for Xe 4d excitation/ionization.

Abundance of molecular triple ionization by double Auger decay

Systematic measurements of electron emission following formation of single 1s or 2p core holes in molecules with C, O, F, Si, S and Cl atoms show that overall triple ionization can make up as much as 20% of the decay. The proportion of triple ionization is observed to follow a linear trend correlated to the number of available valence electrons on the atom bearing the initial core hole and on closest neighbouring atoms, where the interatomic distance is assumed to play a large role. The amounts of triple ionization (double Auger decay) after 1s or 2p core hole formation follow the same linear trend, which indicates that the hole identity is not a crucial determining factor in the number of electrons emitted. The observed linear trend for the percentage of double Auger decay follows a predictive line equation of the form DA = 0.415 · N_ve + 5.46.

Relative extent of double and single Auger decay in molecules containing C, N and O atoms

We show that the proportion of double Auger decay following creation of single 1s core holes in molecules containing C, N and O atoms is greater than usually assumed, amounting to about 10% of single Auger decay in many cases. It varies from molecule to molecule, where the size of the molecule has a positive correlation to the amount of double Auger decay. In neon, examined as a related benchmark, the proportion of double Auger decay is similar to that in methane, and is in the order of 5%.

Breaking the disulfide chemical bond using high energy photons: the dimethyl disulfide and methyl propyl disulfide molecules

In order to study the stability of the disulfide chemical bond in molecules subjected to a flux of high energy photons, the ionic fragmentation of DMDS and MPDS has been studied following excitation around the S 1s edge (∼2470 eV).

Ultrafast Charge Transfer of a Valence Double Hole in Glycine Driven Exclusively by Nuclear Motion

We explore theoretically the ultrafast transfer of a double electron hole between the functional groups of glycine after K-shell ionization and subsequent Auger decay. Although a large energy gap of about 15 eV initially exists between the two electronic states involved and coherent electronic dynamics play no role in the hole transfer, we find that the double hole is transferred within 3 to 4 fs between both functional ends of the glycine molecule driven solely by specific nuclear displacements and non-Born-Oppenheimer effects. The nuclear displacements along specific vibrational modes are of the order of 15% of a typical chemical bond between carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen atoms and about 30% for bonds involving hydrogen atoms. The time required for the hole transfer corresponds to less than half a vibrational period of the involved nuclear modes. This finding challenges the common wisdom that nuclear dynamics of the molecular skeleton are unimportant for charge transfer processes at the few-femtosecond time scale and shows that they can even play a prominent role. It also indicates that in x-ray imaging experiments, in which ionization is unavoidable, valence electron redistribution caused by nuclear dynamics might be much faster than previously anticipated. Thus, non-Born-Oppenheimer effects may affect the apparent electron densities extracted from such measurements.

Three body dissociation of CS2(2+) subsequent to various S(2p) Auger transitions

Fragmentation kinematics of CS2 following various S(2p) Auger transitions is studied. Employing a combination of electron energy analysis and recoil ion momentum spectroscopy, changes in the dissociation channel yields, as well as the differences in the kinematical parameters for various bands of Auger hole states are presented. The fragmentation mechanism for dissociative channels leading to complete atomization of CS2(2+) molecular ion is studied in detail. We find that CS2(2+) does not retain linear geometry and is bent before undergoing concerted break-up. It is also observed that different geometric configurations of the CS2(2+) precursor result in different kinetic energy release values.

Decay of a 2p inner-shell hole in an Ar(+) ion

Direct measurements of the photoelectrons or Auger electrons associated with inner shell ionization of positively charged ions are extremely difficult and rarely realized. We propose an alternative method to simulate such measurements, based on core valence double photoionization of the neutral species. As an example, we obtain the spectroscopy, lifetimes, and Auger decays of the states arising from 2p inner shell ionisation of an Ar(+) ion. Observations compare well with theoretical predictions obtained within multiconfigurational Dirac-Fock formalism.

Multi-electron spectroscopy: Auger decays of the argon 2s hole

Auger decay of an inner shell hole is an efficient way to create multiply charged ions in the gas phase. We illustrate this with the example of the argon 2s decay, and show that multi-electron coincidence spectroscopy between the 2s photoelectron and all released Auger electrons leads to a complete reconstruction of the Ar 2s decay cascade. Spectra of the intermediate and final Ar(n+) states are obtained and are compared with a theoretical model.

Unveiling residual molecular binding in triply charged hydrogen bromide

We present an experimental and theoretical study of triply charged hydrogen bromide ions formed by photoionization of the inner 3d shell of Br. The experimental results, obtained by detecting the 3d photoelectron in coincidence with the two subsequent Auger electrons, are analyzed using calculated potential energy curves of HBr3+. The competition between the short-range chemical binding potential and the Coulomb repulsion in the dissociative process is shown. Two different mechanisms are observed for double Auger decay: one, a direct process with simultaneous ejection of two Auger electrons to final HBr3+ ionic states and the other, a cascade process involving double Auger decay characterized by the autoionization of Br*+ ion subsequent to the HBr2+ fragmentation.