Theoretical Investigation of the X-Ray Level Widths of Light Metals

Abstract

L-level widths due to the Auger and radiative processes are calculated for light metals such as Al, Mg and Na by using a theory of soft X-ray emission developed by Morita and Watabe in terms of the Green’s function method. Results are nearly consistent with level widths observed experimentally. It is explained that L₁–L_2,3 emission line spectra have very weak intensities and L₁-emission band spectra cannot be observed. The calculated intensity ratios between L₃- and L₂-emission band spectra are nearly equal to two, the degeneracy ratio of these two levels, while the observed intensity ratios are much larger than two. It is suggested that the observed large values of the ratio may be attributed to the self-absorption effect on the L₂-band emission.