Excitation cross sections and spectroscopic classification of autoionizing levels in a caesium atom

Abstract

The electron impact excitation of the 5p6 subshell in a caesium atom was studied by measuring the excitation cross sections of lines in ejected-electron spectra arising from the decay of the 5p5n1l1n2l2 autoionizing doublet and quartet levels. The data were obtained for the incident electron energies ranging from the lowest excitation threshold 12.31 up to 600 eV at an observation angle of 54.7° and with incident-electron energy resolutions of 0.2 and 0.7 eV for the near-threshold and high impact-energy regimes, respectively. Spectroscopic assignment and excitation cross sections of levels in 6s2, 5d6s, 6s6p and 6s6d configurations are considered.