A versatile electron-ion coincidence spectrometer for photoelectron momentum imaging and threshold spectroscopy on mass selected ions using synchrotron radiation

Abstract

We present a photoelectron-photoion coincidence (PEPICO) spectrometer named DELICIOUS II which combines a velocity map imaging apparatus with a Wiley-McLaren time of flight analyzer for the study of gas phase samples in interaction with the synchrotron radiation (SR). This versatile system is capable of providing photoelectron images on mass-selected compounds with kinetic energy resolutions of DeltaE/E=5% and a 17 eV bandwidth, as well as threshold photoelectron spectra with a measured resolution of 0.8 meV, as demonstrated on the 3p(-1) ionization of argon. This instrument is also employed for threshold PEPICO experiments, allowing the selection of the parent ion's internal state with sub-meV resolution for light masses (<40 amu) and with typically 2 meV resolution for a mass of 100 amu and with a mass resolving power above 200. The continuous operation of the extraction fields and the independence from the electron's time of flight are well adapted to the quasicontinuous multibunch mode of the SR. This, together with the high transmission of both the electron and ion detection, allows a high coincidence counting rate and facilitates the subtraction of false coincidences. We illustrate the spectrometer's coincidence principle of operation with examples from the valence photoionization of an Ar+Xe mixture and of CF(4).