Multi-atom resonant photoemission and the development of next-generation software and high-speed detectors for electron spectroscopy

Abstract

This dissertation has involved the exploration of a new effect in photoelectron emission, multi-atom resonant photoemission (MARPE), as well as the development of new software, data analysis techniques, and detectors of general use in such research. We present experimental and theoretical results related to MARPE, in which the photoelectron intensity from a core level on one atom is influenced by a core-level absorption resonance on another. We point out that some of our and others prior experimental data has been strongly influenced by detector non-linearity and that the effects seen in new corrected data are smaller and of different form. Corrected data for the MnO(001) system with resonance between the O 1s and Mn 2p energy levels are found to be well described by an extension of well-known intraatomic resonant photoemission theory to the interatomic case, provided that interactions beyond the usual second-order Kramers-Heisenberg treatment are included. This theory is also found to simplify under certain conditions so as to yield results equivalent to a classical x-ray optical approach, with the latter providing an accurate and alternative, although less detailed and general, physical picture of these effects. Possible future applications of MARPE as a new probe of near-neighbor identities and bonding and its relationship to other known effects are also discussed. We also consider in detail specially written data acquisition software that has been used for most of the measurements reported here. This software has been used with an existing experimental system to develop the method of detector characterization and then data correction required for the work described above. The development of a next generation one-dimensional, high-speed, electron detector is also discussed. Our goal has been to design, build and test a prototype high-performance, one-dimensional pulse-counting detector that represents a significant advancement in detector technology and is well matched to modern high-brightness synchrotrons radiation sources and high-transmission electron-energy analyzers as typically used in photoelectron spectroscopy experiments. The general design of the detector and the results of initial tests are discussed and the acquisition of photoelectron spectra with the first test detector is described.