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Influence of the ion charge state on emission energies of Auger electrons exemplified in Ar and Xe clusters

Niklas Golchert1,*, Eetu Pelimanni2, Nils Kiefer1, Lutz Marder1, Catmarna Küstner-Wetekam1, Christina Zindel1, Yusaku Terao1, Emilia Heikura1, Madhusree Roy Chowdhury1 et al.

Adrian Krone1, Arne Schröder1, Maria Novella Piancastelli3, Tatiana Marchenko3,4, Iyas Ismail3,4, Oksana Travnikova3,4, Ralph Püttner5, Antti Kivimäki6, Kirill Chernenko6, Denis Céolin4, Olle Björneholm7, Marc Simon3,4, Arno Ehresmann1, Minna Patanen2, and Andreas Hans1,†

  • 1Institut für Physik und CINSaT, Universität Kassel, Heinrich-Plett-Straße 40, D-34132 Kassel, Germany
  • 2Nano and Molecular Systems Research Unit, Faculty of Science, University of Oulu, Oulu 90014, Finland
  • 3Sorbonne Université, CNRS, UMR 7614, Laboratoire de Chimie Physique-Matière et Rayonnement, F-75005 Paris, France
  • 4Synchrotron SOLEIL, l’Orme des Merisiers, Saint-Aubin, BP 48, F-91192 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
  • 5Fachbereich Physik, Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimallee 14, D-14159 Berlin, Germany
  • 6MAX IV Laboratory, Lund University, P.O. Box 118, SE-22100 Lund, Sweden
  • 7Chemical and Biomolecular Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden

  • *Contact author: niklas.golchert@uni-kassel.de
  • †Contact author: hans@physik.uni-kassel.de
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023032 – Published 9 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/8g56-ghtb

Abstract

We report on the shift of energies released during Auger cascades in rare-gas ions, when the ions are not isolated but embedded in a homogeneous cluster. By combining high-resolution electron spectroscopy with multielectron coincidence spectroscopy of small Ar and Xe clusters, we investigate the dependence of Auger electron emission energies on the charge state of the emitting ion in the polarizable cluster medium up to charge states of +4. Our results show deviations from the predictions of the established electrostatic Born model by a factor of ≈2 for the final step of the cascades.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023032– Published 9 April, 2026
  • Received 1 July 2025
  • Accepted 9 March 2026
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