The Emission of Auger Electrons from Ionized Atoms

1 The Emission of Auger Electrons from Ionized Atoms 

The conventional chemical nomenclature for these orbitals is given on the right hand side, and the X-ray nomenclature used in Auger spectroscopy appears on the left. The designation of levels to the K, L, M. shells is based on their having principal quantum numbers of 1,2,3. respectively. 

The Auger process is initiated by the creation of a core hole, which is typically carried out by exposing the sample to a beam of high energy electrons (with a typical 

In the example illustrated in the diagram, the atom is raised into an excited state by the creation of a core hole at level L3. An electron then falls down from a higher level (level Mi in the diagram) to fill this core hole, and the excess energy is carried away as the kinetic energy of a further electron which is emitted from the atom (in this case from level M2 3). 

The second and third energy terms in equation (1) could be interchanged without any effect (i.e. it is impossible to say which electron fills the initial core hole and which is ejected as an Auger electron they are indistinguishable. The existence of different electronic states within the final doubly ionized atom may furthermore lead to fine structure in high-resolution spectra. 

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