Angular distributions of molecular Auger electrons: The case of C 1s Auger emission in CO

The results of a study of the Auger-electron-photoelectron angular correlations in the case of the C 1s ionization of the CO molecule are presented and compared with theoretical calculations in the Hartree-Fock approximation based on the two-step model. The measurements have been performed at two photon energies, 305 and 318 eV, respectively, and at three angles of photoelectron emission relative to the light polarization vector: namely, 0 degrees, 30 degrees, and 60 degrees. A general agreement is found between theory and experiment for the coincidence angular distributions and the relative magnitudes of the Auger-electron-photoelectron angular correlations. However, both experiment and theory show that the Auger-electron-photoelectron angular correlations are not sufficiently sensitive to the details of the Auger-electron wave function to allow a complete Auger experiment in molecules. On the other hand, our calculations demonstrate that the Auger-electron angular distribution measured in the molecular frame is very sensitive to the individual contributions of different partial waves of the Auger electron. Therefore we conclude that the complete experiment for the Auger decay in molecules can be realized only measuring the Auger-electron angular distributions in the molecular frame.