Cross section ratios of double-to-single K-shell ionization induced by electron impact in metallic Sc, Cr and Cu targets

The double K-shell ionization of Sc, Cr and Cu induced by electron impact was investigated via high energy resolution measurements of the Kα diagram transitions and the transitions resulting from the radiative decay of K-shell double vacancy states, namely the Khα hypersatellites. For Sc, the Kβ diagram lines and Khβ hypersatellites were also measured. The measurements were carried out in-house with a von Hamos curved crystal spectrometer operated in the so-called direct geometry in which the anodes of Sc, Cr and Cu X-ray tubes were used as targets. For each element, the electron kinetic energy was chosen to be about twice the threshold energy for the double 1s ionization. The double-to-single ionization cross-sections ratios PKK were deduced from the hypersatellite-to-diagram line yield ratios, corrected beforehand for the self-absorption of the X-rays in the target and the energy dependent efficiency of the spectrometer. The obtained ratios are discussed and compared to other PKK values found in the literature for electrons and photons.