Kα X-ray emission in manganese compounds *

•High-statistics measurement of the Kα doublet for a variety of manganese compounds•Unprecedented accuracy in the determination of the peak energies•Model-free parametrisation of the Kα line shapes corrected for crystal spectrometer response•Identification of core-hole–3d-shell coupling

Kα X-ray emission spectra of manganese compounds have been measured using an ultimate-resolution Bragg spectrometer optimised for long-term high-statistics measurements. Energies corresponding to the peak positions of the Kα lines were measured to a precision of 10–20 meV. Total line widths of the Kα1 and Kα2 components and their asymmetry have been determined to about 50 meV. A model-free parametrisation of the line pattern corrected for the spectrometer response may serve as testing ground for detailed theoretical considerations.