Internal conversion to bound final states in 125Te Original Research Article

Theoretical results are presented for rate of decay of the 3/2+ isomeric nuclear state of 125Te by excitation of atomic electrons to bound states in the ions Te45+ and Te46+. In these ions the nuclear transition energy lies just below the threshold for emission of a K-shell electron to the continuum with the result that normal K-shell internal conversion is energetically forbidden. However recent experimental results indicate that excitation of K-shell electrons is still significant in these ions. The theoretical results presented here for internal conversion to bound final states are in quantitative agreement with experiment and thereby confirm the contribution of near-resonant electron–nucleus transitions involving a bound final state.