Search for the interatomic Auger effect in Nitrous Oxide

Abstract

The interatomic Auger effect following O 1s ionization in N${}_2$O has been experimentally investigated using multi-electron coincidence spectroscopy. The expected transition energies have been established by comparison to the measured N 1s⁻¹v⁻¹ core-valence double ionization energies. We describe a procedure to eliminate the background of two competing processes contributing spectroscopic signatures to the same energy range, namely double Auger decay of the O 1s vacancy and direct single-photon double ionization into the N 1s⁻¹v⁻¹ states. While the interatomic Auger transitions could not be successfully isolated, we provide an upper boundary of the transition probability of 0.07% with respect to the dominant single Auger decay after O 1s ionization.