Molecular effects in solidNaNO3observed by x-ray absorption and resonant Auger spectroscopy

Abstract

X-ray absorption and resonant Auger spectroscopy were used to study the formation and decay of nitrogen and oxygen core excitations in ionic-molecular solid NaNO3. It has been shown that the most prominent features in the electronic structure of both valence and conduction bands of the NaNO3 crystal are determined by molecular states of the quasi-isolated NO3- group. In the Auger decay following the strongly localized N 1s-->2a(2)(')(pi) and O 1s-->2a(2)(')(pi) core excitations both spectator and participator signals of extremely high intensity have been found. The nuclear out-of-plane motion inside the NO3- group has been shown to be observable by resonant Auger spectroscopy as a strongly non-Raman dispersion of individual participator features upon tuning the photon energy across the N 1s-->2a(2)(')(pi) and O 1s-->2a(2)(')(pi) resonances. All results on electronic and vibrational properties of NaNO3 are compared with those of the gas-phase BF3 molecule, which is isoelectronic and isostructural to the NO3- group. (Less)