Measurement of the L1 sub-shell fluorescence and Coster-Kronig yields of bismuth

The energy-dispersed bismuth L x-ray spectrum emitted by a thin Pb-210 radio-nuclide source was least-squares fitted to an appropriate physical model. The model differed from previous approaches through its inclusion of the L3M double-vacancy satellites. By assuming values recommended in the recent literature for the quantities omega(2), omega(3) and f(23), the following results were obtained: omega(1) = 0. 131 +/- 0.006; f(12) = 0.069 +/- 0.008; f(13) = 0.66 +/- 0.05. These values are compared to existing results of both radio-nuclide and photo-ionization experiments. They tend to support the latter, thereby suggesting the presence of systematic errors in the former.