Soft X-ray bands from dilute alloys

Abstract

It is shown that the soft X-ray emission bands from Be and A1, present in small quantities in solid solution in Cu and A1, have a form without a sharp highenergy edge, the feature most characteristic of these bands in pure metals. The diffuse form of the bands indicates (1) that all the valence electrons of the impurity atom are given up to the lattice, (2) that the impurity atom refuses to take within it those electrons of the lattice which have energies close to the maximum energy of the conduction electrons.