Kx-ray spectra of solid and gaseous fluorine compounds excited by 2-MeV/amu Ar and Mg ions

The $K\alpha$ satellite and hypersatellite spectra of alkali-metal and alkaline-earth fluorides, excited by 80-MeV Ar ions, and the $K\alpha$ satellite spectra of a variety of gaseous fluorine compounds, excited by 48-MeV Mg ions, have been measured with a curved-crystal spectrometer. Analysis of these spectra using primary vacancy distributions deduced from spectra of Ne and HF, excited by the same projectiles, yielded rate constants for $L$-vacancy filling. The rate constants obtained from the satellite and hypersatellite distributions of the solid compounds are about the same (30×${10}^{-4\mathrm{}}$ a.u.), but those obtained for the gaseous compounds are much smaller. A two-step mechanism involving electron transfer from outer levels of surrounding atoms to high-$n$ states of the target atom, followed by subsequent $L$ Auger decay is proposed.