Transition from the radiationless resonant Raman scattering to the normal Auger decay in a charge transfer system

Abstract

The transition from the radiationless resonant Raman scattering to the normal Auger decay in resonant Auger-electron spectroscopy (RAES) spectra of charge transfer (CT) systems is discussed by treating the relaxation and the core-hole decay of the excited core-hole state on the same footing by a many-body theory. When the resonantly excited electron remains at the excited atomic site during the core-hole decay, the RAES spectrum shows the characteristic feature of the resonant Auger–Raman effect, whereas when the excited electron has been transferred from the atomic site before the core-hole decays, the RAES spectrum shows the normal Auger decay. The present theory supports the interpretation of the variation with photon energy of the intensity ratio of the latter spectrum to the former one in the RAES spectrum by the Ar 2p → 4s resonance of Ar atoms adsorbed on Ru(0 0 1) surface reported by Keller et al. [C. Keller, M. Stichler, G. Comelli, F. Esch, S. Lizzit, D. Menzel, W. Wurth, Phys. Rev. B 57 (1998) 11951]. The transition from the radiationless resonant Raman scattering to the normal Auger decay in the RAES spectrum of CuO reported by Finazzi et al. [M. Finazzi, G. Ghiringhell, O. Tjernberg, Ph. Ohresser, N.B. Brookes, Phys. Rev. B 61 (2000) 4629] is discussed in terms of the relaxation of the resonantly excited core-hole state to the core-electron ionized main-line state by the hole–particle excitations. The merging of the resonant Raman–Auger-electron kinetic energy into the normal one about 2 eV above the absorption maximum in Cu 2O reported by Finazzi et al. [M. Finazzi, G. Ghiringhell, O. Tjernberg, Ph. Ohresser, N.B. Brookes, Phys. Rev. B 61 (2000) 4629] is explained in terms of the change in the characteristics of the screening electron in the two-hole final state. The Ti L 23-M 23V RAES spectra of TiO 2 and TiO 2− x are also analyzed.