2p3s3p, 2p3p3p, and 2p3s3s resonant Auger spectroscopy from NiO

Abstract

We have investigated the behavior of the 2p3s3p, 2p3p3p, and 2p3s3s Auger lines of NiO, a model compound in the class of strongly correlated 3d systems, while varying the photon energy across the Ni L3 and L2 absorption edges. The experimental data are discussed in comparison with a theoretical model based on a charge-transfer multiplet approach. When the excitation energy is below the L3 resonance, we observe the 2p3p3p and 2p3s3p peaks at a constant binding energy. This behavior is typical of nonradiative resonant Raman scattering. If the photon energy is increased further, the 2p3p3p and 2p3s3p lines rapidly transform into constant kinetic energy features, showing a normal Auger behavior. The transition from Raman- to Auger-like behavior takes place for photon energies lower than the ones corresponding to excitations of the photoelectron into ligand-hole states. This might indicate the participation of inelastic processes in the recombination of the core hole involving energies much smaller than the NiO gap, or the possible presence of nonlocal effects. On the high photon energy side of the L3 edge, the constant kinetic energy of the 2p3p3p and 2p3s3p peaks is systematically larger than the one observed for an excitation well above the L2,3 edges. We attribute this behavior to the intervention of an intermediate state of 2p^5 3d^10 character, which has very little weight but is strongly enhanced at resonance.