Three-electron Auger decay is an exotic and elusive process, in which two outer-shell electrons simultaneously refill an inner-shell double vacancy with emission of a single Auger electron. Such transitions are forbidden by the many-electron selection rules, normally making their decay lifetimes orders of magnitude longer than the few-femtosecond lifetimes of normal (two-electron) Auger decay. Here we present theoretical predictions and direct experimental evidence for a few-femtosecond three-electron Auger decay of a double inner-valence-hole state in CH3F. Our analysis shows that in contrast to double core holes, double inner-valence vacancies in molecules can decay exclusively by this ultrafast three- electron Auger process, and we predict that this phenomenon occurs widely.
Ultrafast Molecular Three-Electron Auger Decay
TARANTELLI, Francesco;
2016
Abstract
Three-electron Auger decay is an exotic and elusive process, in which two outer-shell electrons simultaneously refill an inner-shell double vacancy with emission of a single Auger electron. Such transitions are forbidden by the many-electron selection rules, normally making their decay lifetimes orders of magnitude longer than the few-femtosecond lifetimes of normal (two-electron) Auger decay. Here we present theoretical predictions and direct experimental evidence for a few-femtosecond three-electron Auger decay of a double inner-valence-hole state in CH3F. Our analysis shows that in contrast to double core holes, double inner-valence vacancies in molecules can decay exclusively by this ultrafast three- electron Auger process, and we predict that this phenomenon occurs widely.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
