A high-resolution study of resonant Auger decay processes in N₂O after core electron excitation from terminal nitrogen, central nitrogen and oxygen atoms to the 3π LUMO

Decay spectra of N₂O following excitation to the N terminal (N_t) → π*, N central (N_c) → π* and O 1s → π* intermediate states are reported. The final states reached after participator decay show resonant enhancement consistent with a local-density-of-states analysis based on the Mulliken population of the valence molecular orbitals. In particular, the X-state is resonantly enhanced mostly after excitation from the N_t 1s and the O 1s core levels to the π*, while the B-state is mostly enhanced following the excitation of the N_c 1s → π* intermediate state. Below the N _t 1s threshold, the lowest lying peak related to spectator decay falls at lower binding energy than the highest lying participator peak. This can be attributed to a particularly strong screening effect exerted by the excited electron in the LUMO.