An experimental investigation of the relativistic effects on the KL1L2(P-3(0)) Auger transition rate of Xe-131

The KLL Auger spectrum of Xe-131 from the Cs-131 decay has been measured at an instrumental resolution of 13 eV. Energies and relative intensities of the individual KLL lines here been determined and compared with the theoretical results. Our KL1L2(P-3(0))/(P-1(1)) intensity ratio of 0.33(2) agrees remarkably well with that of 0.34 from the relativistic calculations in intermediate coupling with configuration interaction, This agreement clearly proves the predicted strong influence of the effects of relativity on the KL1L2(P-3(0)) rate even at Z = 54, since the relative intensity KL1L2(P-1(0))(P-1(1)) has been found to beexceedingly sensitive to these effects. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.