Resonant double-core excitations with ultrafast, intense X-ray pulses

Abstract

Intense few-to-sub-femtosecond soft X-ray pulses can produce neutral, two-site excited double-core-hole states by promoting two core electrons to the same unoccupied molecular orbital. We theoretically investigate double nitrogen K-edge excitations of nitrous oxide (N${}_2$O) with multiconfigurational electronic structure calculations. We show that the second core-excitation energy is reduced with respect to its ground state value. A site-selective double core-excitation mechanism using intense few-femtosecond x-rays is investigated using time-dependent Schrödinger equation (TDSE) simulations. The subsequent two-step Auger–Meitner and two-electrons-one-electron decay spectra of the double core-excited states are analysed using a Mulliken population analysis of the multiconfirational wavefunctions. The change in the electron emission lineshape between the absorption of 1 or 2 photons in the resonant core-excitation is predicted by combining this approach with the TDSE simulations. We examine the possibility of resolving the double core-excited states with X-ray pump-probe techniques by calculating the chemical shifts of the core-electron binding energy of the core-excited states and decay products.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Keywords:

• Double core-hole states
• Auger–Meitner decay
• time-dependent Schrodinger equation
• ultrafast
• intense X-rays
• restricted active space self consistent field

Acknowledgments

This paper is dedicated to the memory of Prof. Nick Besley.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This material is based on work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences through Argonne National Laboratory. Argonne is a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC, under contract DE-AC02-06CH11357.