Experimental and theoretical study of the Auger cascade following 4d → 6p photoexcitation in Xe

High-resolution spectra and angular anisotropy of the resonant Auger electron emission from the 4d -1 6p photoexcited states in Xe are studied. The low-energy part of the spectra, which contains transitions to the 5s 1 5p 5 6p and 5s 0 5p 6 6p states of Xe + and the subsequent cascade Auger transitions to the 5s 2 5p 4 and 5s5p 5 states of Xe 2+ , is investigated in detail. High resolution has enabled us to determine the values of anisotropy parameter β for many individual resonant Auger transitions and for some second-step transitions which had not been measured previously. The results are compared with the theoretical predictions based on the multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock approach.