U. Hergenhahn

Hydrogen bonds in liquid water studied by photoelectron spectroscopy

The authors report on photoelectron emission spectroscopy measurements of the oxygen 1s orbital of liquid water, using a liquid microjet in ultrahigh vacuum. By suitably changing the soft x-ray photon energy, within 600-1200 eV, the electron probing depth can be considerably altered as to either predominantly access the surface or predominantly bulk water molecules. The absolute probing depth in liquid water was inferred from the evolution of the O1s signal and from comparison with aqueous salt solution. The presence of two distinctive components in the core-level photoelectron spectrum, with significantly different binding energies, is revealed. The dominant contribution, at a vertical binding energy of 538.1 eV, was found in bulk and surface sensitive spectra. A weaker component at 536.6 eV binding energy appears to be present only in bulk water. Hartree-Fock calculations of O1s binding energies in different geometric arrangements of the water network are presented to rationalize the experimental distribution of O1s electron binding energies.

Vibrational structure in inner shell photoionization of molecules

The sudden removal of an inner shell electron from a molecule by photoionization generally leads to the production of vibrationally excited cationic states. Recent experimental results on this phenomenon, most of them obtained on third generation synchrotron radiation sources, are reviewed. Most of the examples that will be discussed involve small molecules with second row constituent atoms, such as C, N and O. In detail, the inner shell photoelectron spectra of CH4, CO, N2, O2, CO2, ethane, furan and benzene will be discussed. Emphasis will be placed on the coupling of the vibrational with the electronic structure in the case of degenerate or nearly degenerate electronic final states.

Valence ionization of water clusters: from isolated molecules to bulk.

The valence photoelectron spectra of water clusters are studied experimentally and by ab initio calculations. The size dependence of the vertical ionization energy of the outermost orbitals is explicitly shown. A shift toward lower values is observed. For small cluster sizes, it can be rationalized as an effect of charge delocalization as the system is becoming more extended. Ionization energies of larger clusters decrease linearly with inverse cluster radius and asymptotically approach the value of liquid water. In the calculations, we apply a reflection principle approach based on sampling a quantum mechanical distribution of different initial-state geometries to clusters. An excellent agreement of peak shapes calculated thus with measured ones is shown. Using additional polarization fields, the extension of this approach to the photoionization of liquid water is demonstrated. Upon deuteration of the water clusters, we experimentally and theoretically find slightly larger absolute values of the vertical ionization energies. We suggest that the measurement of electron ionization energies can be used as an alternative means to characterize water cluster sizes, which can complement the use of scaling laws.

On the nature and origin of dicationic, charge-separated species formed in liquid water on X-ray irradiation

To understand the yield and patterns of damage in aqueous condensed matter, including biological systems, it is essential to identify the initial products subsequent to the interaction of high-energy radiation with liquid water. Until now, the observation of several fast reactions induced by energetic particles in water was not possible on their characteristic timescales. Therefore, some of the reaction intermediates involved, particularly those that require nuclear motion, were not considered when describing radiation chemistry. Here, through a combined experimental and theoretical study, we elucidate the ultrafast proton dynamics in the first few femtoseconds after X-ray core-level ionization of liquid water. We show through isotope analysis of the Auger spectra that proton-transfer dynamics occur on the same timescale as electron autoionization. Proton transfer leads to the formation of a Zundel-type intermediate [HO*···H···H2O](+), which further ionizes to form a so-far unnoticed type of dicationic charge-separated species with high internal energy. We call the process proton-transfer mediated charge separation.

Photoelectron circular dichroism in core level ionization of randomly oriented pure enantiomers of the chiral molecule camphor

The inner-shell photoionization of unoriented camphor molecules by circularly polarized light has been investigated from threshold to a photoelectron kinetic energy of approximately 65 eV. Photoelectron spectra of the carbonyl C 1s orbital, recorded at the magic angle of 54.7 degrees with respect to the light propagation direction, show an asymmetry of up to 6% on change of either the photon helicity or molecular enantiomer. These observations reveal a circular dichroism in the angle resolved emission with an asymmetry between forward and backward scattering (i.e., 0 degrees and 180 degrees to the light beam) which can exceed 12%. Since the initial state is an atomiclike spherically symmetric orbital, this strongly suggests that the asymmetry is caused by final-state effects dependent on the chiral geometry of the molecule. These findings are confirmed by electron multiple scattering calculations of the photoionization dynamics in the electric-dipole approximation.

Hydrogen bonding in liquid water probed by resonant Auger-electron spectroscopy

We have measured resonant and off-resonant Auger-electron spectra of liquid water. Continuumlike transitions near and above the O1s vertical ionization energy are identified by the characteristic normal Auger-electron spectra. On the contrary, well-resolved spectator shifts of the main Auger-electron peak are observed at the liquid-water O1s absorption main edge and near the absorption pre-edge. The shifts of 1.4 and 1.9 eV arise from the localized nature of the excitation. Excited-state localization/delocalization is also discussed for the analogous vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) transitions, and we point out the similarities between x-ray and VUV absorption spectra of liquid water.

A comprehensive photoabsorption, photoionization, and shake-up excitation study of the C 1s cross section of benzene

The absolute photoabsorption cross section of benzene (C6H6), encompassing the C 1s−1 π*e2u resonance, the C 1s threshold, the satellite thresholds, and extending up to 800 eV, has been measured using synchrotron radiation. Measurements of the discrete absorption structure from below the C 1s ionization threshold have been performed at high resolution. In order to unambiguously assign all structure present in the photoabsorption cross section, C 1s photoelectron spectra were measured from the C 1s threshold region up to 350 eV along with satellite spectra. The C 1s−1 single-hole and the satellite cross sections have been derived in absolute units, and their angular distributions have been determined. Resonant and normal Auger spectra were taken on the main features of the photoabsorption and single-hole cross sections. From the best resolved photoelectron spectra the underlying structure in the asymmetric benzene photoelectron peak can be partly disentangled. The experimental data show that at least two v...

Circular Dichroism in the Angle-Resolved C 1s Photoemission Spectra of Gas-Phase Carvone Enantiomers

The inner-shell C 1s photoionization of randomly oriented molecules of the chiral compound carvone has been investigated using circularly polarized synchrotron radiation up to 30 eV above threshold. Binding energies of the C=O and CH2= carbon 1s orbitals were determined to be 292.8+/-0.2 and 289.8+/-0.2 eV, respectively. The remaining C-H C 1s levels substantially overlap under an intense central peak centered at 290.5+/-0.2 eV. The angle-resolved photoemission from the carbonyl carbon C=O core orbital in pure carvone enantiomers shows a pronounced circular dichroism of approximately 6% at the magic angle of 54.7 degrees to the light beam propagation direction. This corresponds to an expected 0 degrees -180 degrees forward-backward electron emission asymmetry of approximately 10%. On changing between the R and S enantiomers of carvone the sense or sign of the asymmetry and associated dichroism effectively reverses. The observed circular dichroism, and its energy dependence, is well accounted for by calculations performed in the pure electric dipole approximation.

Self-assembled heterogeneous argon/neon core-shell clusters studied by photoelectron spectroscopy.

Clusters formed by a coexpansion process of argon and neon have been studied using synchrotron radiation. Electrons from interatomic Coulombic decay as well as ultraviolet and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to determine the heterogeneous nature of the clusters and the cluster structure. Binary clusters of argon and neon produced by coexpansion are shown to exhibit a core-shell structure placing argon in the core and neon in the outer shells. Furthermore, the authors show that 2 ML of neon on the argon core is sufficient for neon valence band formation resembling the neon solid. For 1 ML of neon the authors observe a bandwidth narrowing to about half of the bulk value.

Observation of excitonic satellites in the photoelectron spectra of Ne and Ar clusters

We have recorded synchrotron radiation excited photoelectron spectra of free Ne and Ar cluster beams in the valence and inner valence region. Varying the cluster sizes from a few up to some hundred atoms, the development of inelastic energy losses of the outgoing photoelectrons is clearly visible. The first few energy loss features can be related to creation of excitons and interband transitions within the cluster.