Energy analysis of ejected electrons in the region of the Ar L1-L2,3M Coster-Kronig transitions (25-56 eV) induced by electron impact

The ejected electron spectra between 25 and 56 eV kinetic energy in Ar have been measured at several electron impact energies. When the incident energy is above the Ar 2s ionization potential the peaks due to the L1-L2,3M1 and L1-L2,3M2,3 Coster-Kronig (CK) transitions are expected to occur in this region of kinetic energy, but we observe a series of other narrow structures that overlap and sometime dominate the spectrum due to the CK transitions. These features have been attributed to the autoionizing decay of inner valence doubly excited states to the Ar + ground state.