Electronic state interferences in resonant x-ray emission after K-shell excitation in HCl

Phys Rev Lett. 2010 Sep 10;105(11):113004. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.113004. Epub 2010 Sep 10.

Abstract

We have measured a series of high-resolution x-ray spectra emitted upon resonant photoexcitation of HCl. The photon energy was tuned across the dissociative 1s→6σ* resonance and the Rydberg states converging to the Cl 1s(-1) threshold, and inelastic photon scattering was observed in the region of KL emission lines. Excellent agreement is found between fully ab initio calculated and measured spectra if interferences between different excitation-emission paths are taken into account. The effect of electronic state interferences is enhanced due to dynamical broadening of the 6σ* resonance in HCl.