Interatomic electronic decay processes in singly and multiply ionized clusters

Since their theoretical prediction in 1997, interatomic (intermolecular)Coulombic decay (ICD) and relatedprocesses have been in the focus of intensive theoretical and experimental research. The spectacular progress in this direction has been stimulated both by the fundamental importance of the discovered electronic decay phenomena and by the exciting possibility of their practical application, for example in spectroscopy of interfaces. Interatomic decay phenomena take place in inner-shell-ionized clusters due to electronic correlation between two or more cluster constituents. These processes lead to the decay of inner-shell vacancies by electron emission and often also to disintegration of the resulting multiply ionized cluster. Here we review the recent progress in the study of interatomic decay phenomena in singly and multiply ionized clusters. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.