1s hole excited states of Be: partial autoionization rates compared with recent experimental data

Abstract

Auger decay following inner-shell photoexcitation of atomic beryllium is studied using the University College London close-coupling codes. We reproduce some of the features observed experimentally by Krause and co-workers. The vastly predominant decay mode of Be 1s2s2np1P° is to Be+ 1s2np rather than the ground state of Be+ and the theoretical np/2s ratio agrees with the experimental value. The peak observed in the partial photoionization cross section for formation of 1s(2s2p3P) 2P° is due to photoexcitation of 1s2s(3s3p3P) 1P° followed by autoionization. Our theoretical result reproduces this feature. Strong configuration interaction effects limit the accuracy we can achieve for the radiationless decay width.