Understanding the Coulomb explosion through neutralization dynamics in the problem of Auger-destruction

Abstract: The Coulomb explosion is a process that occurs following the formation of multiple charges during Auger cascades, leading to the destruction of solid-state and molecular structures. For unstable multi-charged ions produced at Auger cascades, the destruction cross-section is directly related to the probability of Coulomb explosion, which depends on characteristic times of ion dissociation and electron neutralization. This study demonstrates that the atomic dissociation time decreases with charge. An expression for the neutralization time was obtained within the model, in which the probability of Coulomb explosion is considered as a competition of two processes, ion dissociation and electron neutralization. By using approximation of the effective mass, it was shown that the neutralization time is a function of the effective mass and the width of the valence band of solid states.