Spin-orbit selectivity observed for the HCl+(X-tilde2Π) state using resonant photoemission

We report the experimental observation of a strongly selective population of the spin-orbit components in the HCl+ X-tilde2ΠΩ states after excitation into the dissociative 2p-16σ* core excited state. A progression of highly excited vibrational states with either the Ω=3/2 or Ω=1/2 component of the final state is populated, respectively, when the excitation is tuned in the 2p3/2-16σ* or 2p1/2-16σ* part of the resonance. This effect is explained theoretically to be due to the orientational selectivity of the excitation process and the preference of the L2,3VV Auger process to produce valence holes with the same orientation as the core holes