K-edge x-ray absorption spectra of Cs and Xe

X-ray absorption spectrum of cesium vapor in the K-edge region is measured in a stainless steel cell. The spectrum is free of the x-ray absorption fine structure signal and shows small features analogous to those in the spectrum of the neighbor noble gas Xe. Although the large natural width of the K vacancy (>10eV) washes out most of the details, fingerprints of multielectron excitations can be recognized at energies close to Dirac-Fock estimates of doubly excited states 1s4(d,p,s) and 1s3(d,p). Among these, the 1s3p excitation 1000 eV above the K edge in both spectra is the deepest double excitation observed so far. Within the K-edge profile, some resolution is recovered with numerical deconvolution of the spectra, revealing the coexcitation of the 5(p,s) electrons, and even the valence 6s electron in Cs. As in homologue elements, three-electron excitations, either as separate channels or as configuration admixtures are required to explain some spectral features in detail.