Electron correlations in the L-shell photoionization of heavy elements.

Abstract

The photoionization of the individual L subshells of $_{72}\mathrm{Hf}$, $_{74}\mathrm{W}$, $_{78}\mathrm{Pt}$, $_{79}\mathrm{Au}$, and $_{82}\mathrm{Pb}$ in the energy regime of the L edges has been studied in detail. Experimentally, the x-ray absorption spectra of thin sample foils were recorded using monochromatized synchrotron radiation. The energy dependence of the absorption is governed in its gross structure by the atomic photoionization with some superimposed oscillatory structure due to solid-state effects. The experimental data are compared to various theoretical predictions for atomic photoionization. Calculations in the framework of an independent-electron approach predict a smooth, power-law-like energy dependence. In contrast, the experimental data show small but significant deviations from such a behavior. The dispersionlike deviations are attributed to electron-correlation effects, as is confirmed by comparative calculations of photoionization with inclusion or omission of the correlations using the computer code of Liberman and Zangwill [Comput. Phys. Commun. 32, 75 (1984)]. The main influence of the correlation effects on the subshell ionization cross sections originates from the dielectric (anti-) screening of the external radiation field. Calculations in the local-density approximation for the response of the atom to the radiation field yield an even quantitative description of the experimental data in a large fraction of the investigated energy range.