PRODUCTION OF EXCITED BE+1S22P IONS FROM DECAY OF 1S2S22P

Based on a photoabsorption experiment on Be i, Caldwell et al. [Phys. Rev. A 41, 542 (1990)] have shown that the 1s2s22p 1P°state decays mainly through the (1s22p,e) Auger channel. It is also remarked that this can be regarded as a common feature for the Be-like series. We present accurate energies of 1P°on Be i, B ii, C iii, and O v that lead to identifications in high-resolution Auger experimental measurements from ion-atom and ion-molecule collisions. We show that, while the 1s2s22p 1P°(1s22p,e) decay channels are clearly seen in the reported spectra, the 1s2s22p 1P°(1s22s,e) channels are either extremely weak or not reported at all. This gives unambiguous support to the conclusion of Caldwell et al. The calculated 1s2s22p 1P°energy in this work is 115.52 eV above the 1s22s2 level of Be i. This agrees well with the 115.5 eV found in the experiment. © 1990 The American Physical Society.