The main goal of this research program was to obtain accurate thermochemical and spectroscopic data, such as ionization energies (IEs), 0 K bond dissociation energies, 0 K heats of formation, and spectroscopic constants for radicals and molecules and their ions of relevance to combustion chemistry. Two unique, generally applicable vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) laser photoion-photoelectron apparatuses have been developed in our group, which have used for high-resolution photoionization, photoelectron, and photodissociation studies for many small molecules of combustion relevance.

BL9.0.2.2 is the newly constructed experimental End Station 2 at the Chemical Dynamics Beamline 9.0.2 of the Advanced Light Source (ALS). It is dedicated to the high resolution photoionization study of molecules of interest to atmospheric and combustion chemistry. This End Station is equipped with a high resolution scanning monochromator, which has been demonstrated to have a world record resolution of E/[delta]E=70,000. Taking the advantage of the high resolution ALS light, the authors have improved the energy resolution in threshold photoelectron spectroscopy (TPES) to 0.8 meV. The TPES is a popular technique for photoionization experiments at all synchrotron radiation facilities due to its high energy resolution as compared to that of traditional photoelectron spectroscopy (PES). TPES achieves higher energy resolution by preferentially detecting near zero kinetic energy photoelectrons resulting from threshold photoionization. However, the spectra obtained from the TPES technique generally are complicated by the simultaneous detection of electrons with nonzero kinetic energy, which are not fully discriminated against. On the other hand, the spectra obtained from pulsed field ionization photoelectron spectroscopy (PFI-PES) are completely free of the contamination from kinetic electrons. The PFI-PE technique basically involves the detection of the photoelectrons from field ionization of the very high-n Rydberg states, a few cm{sup -1} below the ionization energy (IE), by applying a delayed pulsed electric field. Within a delay of a few microseconds, all the prompt electrons formed from direct ionization will escape from the photoionization region and will not be collected. The authors have recently overcome problems with energy resolution of an electron time-of-flight technique, and incorporated the PFI-PE technique with multi-bunch VUV synchrotron radiation.

Photoemission spectroscopy is one of the most extensively used methods to study the electronic structure of atoms, molecules, and solids and their surfaces. This volume introduces and surveys the field at highest energy and momentum resolutions allowing for a new range of applications, in particular for studies of high temperature superconductors.

This report describes the results of a program of research on the thermochemistry, spectroscopy and intramolecular relaxation dynamics of the combustion intermediate, HCO. We prepare this radical from acetaldehyde as a photo-precursor in a differentially pumped laser-ionization source quadrupole mass spectrometer. Using a multiresonant spectroscopic technique established in our laboratory, we select individual rotational states and overcome Franck-Condon barriers associated with neutral-to-cation geometry changes to promote transitions to individual autoionizing series and state-resolved ionization thresholds. Systematic analysis of rotational structure and associated lineshapes provide experimental insight on autoionization dynamics as input for theoretical modeling. Extrapolation of series, combined with direct threshold-photoelectron detection, yield precise ionization potentials that constitute an important contribution to the thermochemical base of information on HCO.

Photoelectron spectroscopy is now becoming more and more required to investigate electronic structures of various solid materials in the bulk, on surfaces as well as at buried interfaces. The energy resolution was much improved in the last decade down to 1 meV in the low photon energy region. Now this technique is available from a few eV up to 10 keV by use of lasers, electron cyclotron resonance lamps in addition to synchrotron radiation and X-ray tubes. High resolution angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES) is now widely applied to band mapping of materials. It attracts a wide attention from both fundamental science and material engineering. Studies of the dynamics of excited states are feasible by time of flight spectroscopy with fully utilizing the pulse structures of synchrotron radiation as well as lasers including the free electron lasers (FEL). Spin resolved studies also made dramatic progress by using higher efficiency spin detectors and two dimensional spin detectors. Polarization dependent measurements in the whole photon energy spectrum of the spectra provide useful information on the symmetry of orbitals. The book deals with the fundamental concepts and approaches for the application of this technique to materials studies. Complementary techniques such as inverse photoemission, photoelectron diffraction, photon spectroscopy including infrared and X-ray and scanning tunneling spectroscopy are presented. This book provides not only a wide scope of photoelectron spectroscopy of solids but also extends our understanding of electronic structures beyond photoelectron spectroscopy.