Suppression of exponential electronic decay in a charged environment.

Inner-shell ionization of atoms and molecules leads to the creation of highly excited ionic states that often decay by electron emission. The dynamics of the decay is usually assumed to be exponential and the process is characterized by a decay rate. Here we show that in a multiply ionized cluster created by interaction with a high-intensity free-electron laser (FEL) radiation, trapping of the emitted electron by the neighboring ions changes the character of the decay dynamics qualitatively to the extent that it can become oscillatory instead of exponential. Implications of the predicted effect on Coster-Kronig and interatomic Coulombic decay processes induced by FELs are investigated.