Coster-Kronig transition probability $f_{23}$ in gold atoms

We have investigated the Coster-Kronig transition probability $f_{23}$ in gold atoms (nuclear charge $Z=79$) using the $L$ x-ray versus $K$ x-ray coincidence method. K vacancies were created using synchrotron radiation and the cascade decays were measured using germanium x-ray detectors. We find $f_{23}=0.112\pm 0.004$ which is somewhat lower than the recent coincidence measurement of Santra et al. which yielded $f_{23}=0.119\pm 0.003$. Our result is smaller than the values calculated by McGuire $(f_{23}=0.132)$ and Puri et al. $(f_{23}=0.129)$ but agrees with our own single-configuration Pauli-Fock calculation, which gives $f_{23}=0.114$, as well as the global set of prior experimental data.

Figure 1

Partial level diagram showing the $K$ and $L$ x-ray transitions observed in the experiment.

Figure 2

Spectrum of accidental coincidences recorded in detector 1 showing the $K$ x-ray region. The windows labeled $a$, $b$, $c$, and $K\beta$ are used in the analysis.

Figure 3

$L$ x-rays measured in detector 2 in coincidence with (a) $K{\alpha }_2$ x rays $\left(S_a\right)$ and (b) $K{\alpha }_1$ x rays $\left(S_b\right)$ in detector 1.

Figure 4

Experimental and theoretical results for $f_{23}$ in gold atoms. The points with error bars are the experimental results. They are labelled on the horizontal axis as $\left(j\right)$ Jitschin et al. [18], $\left(\mathit{wj}\right)$ Werner and Jitschin [19], $\left(o\right)$ Öz et al. [17], $\left(s\right)$ Santra et al. [6], $\left(\mathit{tw}\right)$ this work. The theoretical calculations are given by lines labeled on the right-hand side as McGuire [20] (short dashed line), Puri et al. [21] (long dashed line), Krause [22] (dotted-dashed line), and this work (solid line).