Dependence of atomic photoeffect on a bound-electron magnetic substate

Abstract

Fl\"ugge, Mehlhorn, and Schmidt have suggested that the dependence of the atomic photoeffect on a bound-electron magnetic substate will have observable consequences for the angular distribution of subsequent Auger electrons. Because of the constraints of parity and time-reversal invariance, this possibility first arises for ejection from ${L}_{\mathrm{III}}$ and ${M}_{\mathrm{III}}$ subshells. We have calculated the relative probabilities of $|{j}_{z}|=\frac{3}{2}$ and $|{j}_{z}|=\frac{1}{2}$ ejection from these subshells, both with the relativistic Born approximation (Gavrila's formulation) and in the nonrelativistic dipole approximation. The ratio of these cross sections can have a dramatic energy dependence, ranging from 7 at high energies to 9/11 in the low-energy domain, and dropping to 1/3 near threshold if there is a Cooper minimum. Screening effects are discussed.