RESONANCE AUGER AND AUTOIONIZATION PROCESSES IN SOLID GADOLINIUM AND EUROPIUM FOLLOWING 4D-]4F RESONANT EXCITATIONS WITH SYNCHROTRON RADIATION

Decay processes in solid gadolinium and europium after 4d --> 4f resonance excitations have been studied by means of Auger and photoelectron spectroscopy. Several photon energies covering the whole resonance region were used. Excitations corresponding to the narrow absorption peaks at the low-energy side of the main resonance were found to decay mostly via autoionization involving 5p or 5s orbitals. However, the N4,5O2,3N6,7 and N4,5N6,7N6,7 resonance Auger processes were also found to play a significant role. After excitations corresponding to the main 4d --> 4f giant resonance the autoionization leading to a 4f-1 one-hole state proved to be the strongest decay channel although the N4,5O2,3N6.7 and N4,5N6,7N6,7 normal Auger transitions were also observed.