Evidence of interatomic Coulombic decay in ArKr after Ar 2p Auger decay

Abstract

We have identified interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD) processes in the ArKr dimer following Ar 2p Auger decay, using momentum-resolved electron–ion–ion coincidence spectroscopy and simultaneously determining the kinetic energy of the ICD electron and the KER between Ar2+ and Kr+. We find that the spin-conserved ICD processes in which Ar2+(3p−33d) 1P and 3P decay to Ar2+(3p−2)1D and 3P, respectively, ionizing the Kr atom, are significantly stronger than the spin-flip ICD processes in which Ar2+(3p−33d) 1P and 3P decay to Ar2+(3p−2)3P and 1D, respectively.