Observation of nonisotropic Auger angular distribution in the C(1s) shape resonance of CO

Angle-resolved high-resolution C(KVV) Auger spectra of CO were taken in the vicinity of the C(1s) σ^* shape resonance. These spectra show clear evidence for the theoretically predicted anisotropic K-shell Auger emission in molecules. Complementary results from angle-resolved photoion spectroscopy show that the small size of the observed effect is, besides the varying intrinsic anisotropy of the Auger decay, also due to a smaller anisotropy in the primary absorption process than originally predicted but in good agreement with more recent calculations. Contrary to this, satellite Auger transitions show unexpectedly large anisotropies.