literature is not always consistent. In addition to the main lines, there are often
“satellite lines” that do not fall on the conventional diagram, and these are labeled
with primes, as summarized for transition metal K-edges in Fig. 8.3. (Some
researchers abandon the Siegbahn labels and simply specify the levels involved in
the fluorescence.)
Fig. 8.2 Top left: alternate core-hole relaxation processes. Top right: competition between Auger
and fluorescence yields vs. atomic number. Bottom left: average fluorescence yields for different
core holes vs. Z. Bottom right: Siegbahn labels commonly applied to X-ray fluorescence lines
Fig. 8.3 Left: energies and relative intensities of Mn K X-ray fluorescence. Right: origin and
nomenclature of K fluorescence lines for first transition metals. The KL emission results from an
initial two-electron excitation that yields simultaneous 1s and 2p vacancies in the excited state
8.2 High-Energy Resolution X-ray Fluorescence (HERXRF)
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