title: Resonant Auger decay driving intermolecular Coulombic decay in molecular dimers.
abstract: In 1997, it was predicted that an electronically excited atom or molecule placed in a loosely bound chemical system (such as a hydrogen-bonded or van-der-Waals-bonded cluster) could efficiently decay by transferring its excess energy to a neighbouring species that would then emit a low-energy electron. This intermolecular Coulombic decay (ICD) process has since been shown to be a common phenomenon, raising questions about its role in DNA damage induced by ionizing radiation, in which low-energy electrons are known to play an important part. It was recently suggested that ICD can be triggered efficiently and site-selectively by resonantly core-exciting a target atom, which then transforms through Auger decay into an ionic species with sufficiently high excitation energy to permit ICD to occur. Here we show experimentally that resonant Auger decay can indeed trigger ICD in dimers of both molecular nitrogen and carbon monoxide. By using ion and electron momentum spectroscopy to measure simultaneously the charged species created in the resonant-Auger-driven ICD cascade, we find that ICD occurs in less time than the 20 femtoseconds it would take for individual molecules to undergo dissociation. Our experimental confirmation of this process and its efficiency may trigger renewed efforts to develop resonant X-ray excitation schemes for more localized and targeted cancer radiation therapy.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Kernphysik, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Trinter
authors.affiliation: 1] Institut für Kernphysik, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany [2] Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Chemical Sciences Division, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Schöffler
authors.affiliation: Institut für Kernphysik, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: H-K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: 1] Institut für Kernphysik, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany [2] Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Chemical Sciences Division, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: F P
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Sturm
authors.affiliation: Institut für Kernphysik, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cole
authors.affiliation: Institut für Kernphysik, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Neumann
authors.affiliation: Institut für Kernphysik, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vredenborg
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Chemical Sciences Division, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bocharova
authors.affiliation: UPMC and CNRS, UMR 7614, Laboratoire de Chimie Physique Matière et Rayonnement, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guillemin
authors.affiliation: UPMC and CNRS, UMR 7614, Laboratoire de Chimie Physique Matière et Rayonnement, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Chemical Sciences Division, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Belkacem
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849, USA.
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Landers
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Chemical Sciences Division, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Th
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.affiliation: Institut für Kernphysik, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schmidt-Böcking
authors.affiliation: Institut für Kernphysik, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dörner
authors.affiliation: Institut für Kernphysik, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jahnke
mesh_terms: D002248:Carbon Monoxide / Q000737:chemistry; D004249:DNA Damage / Q000528:radiation effects; D004583:Electrons / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007477:Ions; D007700:Kinetics; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D014965:X-Rays
chemical_list: D007477:Ions; D002248:Carbon Monoxide; D009584:Nitrogen