We report on the photon energy dependence of the K-shell double photoionization (DPI) of Mg, Al, and Si. The DPI cross sections were derived from high-resolution measurements of x-ray spectra following the radiative decay of the K-shell double vacancy states. Our data evince the relative importance of the final-state electron-electron interaction to the DPI. By comparing the double-to-single K-shell photoionization cross-section ratios for neutral atoms with convergent close-coupling calculations for He-like ions, the effect of outer shell electrons on the K-shell DPI process is assessed. Universal scaling of the DPI cross sections with the effective nuclear charge for neutral atoms is revealed.

We report on a high-resolution transmission-type curved crystal spectrometer based on the modified DuMond slit geometry. The spectrometer was developed at the University of Fribourg for the study of photoinduced X-ray spectra. K and L X-ray transitions with energies above about 10 keV can be measured with an instrumental resolution comparable to their natural linewidths. Construction details and operational characteristics of the spectrometer are presented. The variation of the energy resolution as a function of the focal distance and diffraction order is discussed. The high sensitivity of the spectrometer is demonstrated via the 2s-1s dipole-forbidden X-ray transition of Gd which could be observed despite its extremely low intensity. The precision of the instrument is illustrated by comparing the sum of the energies of the Au K-L 2 and L 2 -M 3 cascading transitions with the energy of the crossover K-M 3 transition as well as by considering the energy differences of the Gd Kα 1 X-ray line measured at five different diffraction orders. Finally, to demonstrate the versatility of the spectrometer, it is shown that the latter can also be used for in-house extended X-ray absorption fine structure measurements.

We report on the first high-resolution measurements of the K x-ray resonant Raman scattering (RRS) in Si. The measured x-ray RRS spectra, interpreted using the Kramers-Heisenberg approach, revealed spectral features corresponding to electronic excitations to the conduction and valence bands in silicon. The total cross sections for the x-ray RRS at the 1s absorption edge and the 1s-3p excitation were derived. The Kramers-Heisenberg formalism was found to reproduce quite well the x-ray RRS spectra, which is of prime importance for applications of the total-reflection x-ray fluorescence technique.

High-resolution measurements of the photoinduced dipole-forbidden L 1 -M 4,5 x-ray emission lines were performed with a reflection-type and a transmission-type bent-crystal spectrometer for 62 Sm, 67 Ho, 70 Yb, 74 W, 78 Pt, 80 Hg, and 83 Bi. From the observed linewidths of the L 1 -M 4,5 x-ray transitions, the level widths of the subshell L 1 were determined assuming for the M 4,5 level widths the values reported recently by Campbell and Papp ͓X-ray Spectrom.