Auger Electron?Ion Coincidence Studies to Determine the Pathways in Soft X-ray Induced Fragmentation of Isolated Molecules

Abstract

We report a coincidence .experiment between energy selected Auger electrons and the ions produced in the events following the absorption of a soft X-ray photon by a CO molecule. This study allows us to correlate specific double hole final state configurations of the Auger decay of a core hole in this molecule with the production of fragment ions, thus giving new experimental insight into the potential energy curves of the doubly charged molecular ion and the involvement of individual valence electrons into the molecular bond in general.