Interatomic coulombic decay - the mechanism for rapid deexcitation of hollow atoms

The impact of highly charged ions onto a solid gives rise to charge exchange between the ions and target atoms, so that slow ions get neutralized in the vicinity of the surface. Using highly charged Ar and Xe ions and the surface-only material graphene as a target, we show that the neutralization and de-excitation of the ions proceeds on a sub-10 fs time scale. We further demonstrate that a multiple interatomic coulombic decay (ICD) model of highly charged ions can describe the observed ultrafast de-excitation. Other de-excitation mechanisms involving non-radiative decay and quasi- molecular orbitals formation during the impact are not important, as follows from the comparison of our experimental data with the results of first-principles calculations. Our method also enables the estimation of ICD rates directly.