In situ Heating and Thermal Effects in Auger Electron Spectroscopy for GaN

An in situ heating system was built for the Auger electron spectroscopy to investigate the thermal effect of Auger lines. A GaN sample was studied in this system. The kinetic energy of Ga LMM and MVV Auger lines were observed to shift negatively with temperature increasing. By using ab initio calculation, the theoretical Ga MVV Auger line shape was fit, which well reflects the inner property of the line. The Auger shift with heating is related with the valence electron rearrangement in the thermal expansion of the local bonds.

Application of Auger electron spectroscopy in lithium-ion conducting oxide solid electrolytes

Garnet-type oxide solid electrolytes are the critical materials for all-solid-state lithium ion batteries.Nanoscale spectroscopic analysis on solid electrolytes plays a key role in bridging the gap between microstructure and properties.In this work,Auger electron spectroscopy(AES),which can directly detect lithium element and distinguish its valence state,was applied to characterize the garnet-type Li_(6.4)La_(3)Zr_(1.4)Ta_(0.6O12)(LLZTO).Different spectroscopy parameters were evaluated and optimal acquisition conditions were provided.Electron induced precipitation of lithium metal from LLZTO was observed.By exploring the influence factors of precipitation and combining transmission electron microscopy(TEM)and focused ion beam(FIB)experiments,the underlying mechanism of the phenomenon was revealed and previous controversy was resolved.The analysis method was also extended to other types of solid electrolytes,and this work provides a reference for future in-depth research on the structure-property relationship of solid electrolytes using AES.

Lithium mapping in a Mg-9Li-4Al-1Zn alloy using electron energy-loss spectroscopy

Magnesium-lithium alloys with high lithium content have been attracting significant attention because of their low density,high formability and corrosion resistance.These properties are dependent on the distribution of lithium,which is difficult to map in the presence of magnesium.In this work,a ratio spectrum-imaging method with electron energy-loss spectroscopy(EELS)is demonstrated,which enables the mapping of lithium.In application to LAZ941(Mg-9Li-4Al-1Zn in wt.%),this technique revealed that a key precipitate in the microstructure,previously thought by some to be Mg_(17)Al_(12),is in fact rich in lithium.This result was corroborated with a structural investigation by high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy(HAADF-STEM),showing this phase to be Al_(1-x)Zn_(x)Li,with x<<1.This work indicates the potential offered by this technique for mapping lithium in materials.

Electron Momentum Spectroscopy of Outer Valence Orbitals of 2-Fluoroethanol

The binding energy spectra and electron momentum distributions for the outer valence molecular orbitals of gaseous 2-fluoroethanol have been measured by the non-coplanar asym- metric （e, 2e） spectrometer at impact energy of 2.5 keV plus binding energy. The quantitative calculations of the ionization energies and the relevant molecular orbitals have been carried out by using the outer-valence Green＇s function method and the density functional theory with B3LYP hybrid functional. The observed ionization bands in binding energy spectra, as well as the previous photoelectron spectrum which was not assigned, have been assigned for the first time through the comparison between experiment and theory. In general, the the- oretical electron momentum distributions calculated by B3LYP method with aug-cc-pVTZ basis set are in line with the experimental ones when taking into account the Boltzmann- weighted thermo-statistical abundances of five conformers of 2-fluoroethanol.

Electron Momentum Spectroscopy of Valence Orbitals of n-Propyl Iodide： Spin-Orbit Coupling Effect and Intramolecular Orbital Interaction

The binding energy spectrum and electron momentum distributions for the outer valence orbitals of n-propyl iodide molecule have been measured using the electron momentum spectrometer employing non-coplanar asymmetric geometry at impact energy of 2.5 keV plus binding energy. The ionization bands have been assigned in detail via the high accuracy SACCI general-R method calculation and the experimental momentum profiles are compared with the theoretical ones calculated by Hartree-Fock and B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ（C,H）6-311G？？（I）. The spin-orbit coupling effect and intramolecular orbital interaction have been analyzed for the outermost two bands, which are assigned to the iodine 5p lone pairs, using NBO method and non-relativistic as well as relativistic calculations. It is found that both of the interactions will lead to the observed differences in electron momentum distributions. The experimental results agree with the relativistic theoretical momentum profiles, indicating that the spin-orbit coupling effect dominates in n-propyl iodide molecule.

Temperature-Dependent Formation of Redox Sites in Molybdenum Trioxide Studied by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

The formation and qualification of redox sites in transition metal oxides are always the active fields related to electronics, catalysis, sensors, and energy-storage units. In the present study, the temperature dependence of thermal reduction of MoO3 was surveyed at the range of 350℃ to 750℃. Upon reduction, the formed redox species characterized by EPR spectroscopy are the MoVion and superoxide anion radical (O2-) when the reduction was induced at the optimal temperature of 300-350℃. When heating-up from 350℃, the EPR signals started to decline in amplitude. The signals in the range of 400-450℃ decreased to half of that at 350℃, and then to zero at ~600℃. Further treatment at even higher temperature or prolonged heating time at 500℃ caused more reduction and more free electrons were released to the MoO3 bulk, which results in a delocalized means similar to the antiferromagnetic coupling. These data herein are helpful to prepare and study the metal-oxide catalysts.

Detection of Electronic Coherence via Two-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy in Condensed Phase

Two dimensional Fourier transforrn electronic spectroscopy （2DES） in the visible region enables direct observation of complex dynamics of molecules including quantum coherence in the condensed phase. This review aims to provide a bridge between the principles and intuitive physical description of 2DES for tutorial purpose. Special emphasis is laid upon how 2DES circumvents the restrictions from both uncertainty principle and the wave-packet collapse during the coherent detection, leading to the successful detection of the coherence in terms of energy difference between the eigenstates showing as the quantum beats; then upon the possible mixing among the pure electronic transition, single-rnode and multi-mode coupled vibronic transition leading to the observed beating phenomena. Finally, recent ad- vances in experimentally distinguishing between the electronic coherence and the vibrational coherence are briefly discussed.

Electron Momentum Spectroscopy of Ethanethiol Complete Valence Shell

The binding energy spectra and electron momentum distributions for the complete valence orbitals of ethanethiol were measured for the first time by binary （e, 2e） electron momentum spectroscopy employing non-coplanar symmetric kinematics at an impact energy of 1200 eV plus binding energy. The experimental results are generally consistent with the theoretical calculations using density functional theory and Hartree-Fock methods with various basis sets. A possible satellite line at 17.8 eV in binding energy spectrum was observed and studied by electron momentum spectroscopy.

High Resolution Electron Momentum Spectroscopy Study on Ethanol： Orbital Electron Momentum Distributions for Individual Conformers

The outer-valence binding energy spectra of ethanol in the energy range of 9-21 eV are mea- sured by a high-resolution electron momentum spectrometer at an impact energy of 2.5 keV plus the binding energy. The electron momentum distributions for the ionization peaks cor- responding to the outer-valence orbitals are obtained by deconvoluting a series of azimuthal angular correlated binding energy spectra. Comparison is made with the theoretical calcu- lations for two conformers, trans and gauche, coexisting in the gas phase of ethanol at the level of B3LYP density functional theory with aug-cc-pVTZ basis sets. It is found that the measured electron momentum distributions for the peaks at 14.5 and 15.2 eV are in good agreement with the theoretical electron momentum distributions for the molecular orbitals of individual conformers （i.e., 8a＇ of trans and 9a of gauche）, but not in accordance with the thermally averaged ones. It demonstrates that the high-resolution electron momentum spectrometer, by inspecting the molecular electronic structure, is a promising technique to identify different conformers in a mixed sample.

Two-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy with Active Phase Management

Two-dimensional elec tronic spec troscopy(2DES)is a powerful met hod to probe the coherent electron dynamics in complicated systems.Stabilizing the phase difference of the incident ultrashort pulses is the mos t challenging par t for experimen tal demonstration of 2DES.Here,we present a tuto rial review on the 2DES proto cols based on active phase managements which are originally developed for quantum optics experiments.We introduce the 2DES techniques in box and pump-probe geometries with phase stabilization realized by interferometry,and outline the fully collinear 2DES approach with the frequency tagging by acoustic optical modulators and frequency combs.The combination of active phase managements,ultrashort pulses and other spectroscopic methods may open new opportunities to tackle essential challenges related to excited states.

Electron Momentum Spectroscopy Investigation on Electronic Structure of Iso-dichloroethylene Valence Shell

Here an electron momentum spectroscopy study on the electronic structure of valence shell of iso-dichloroethylene molecule is reported. The experiment is carried out with a binary (e, 2e) spectrometer at incident electron energy of 1200 eV, employing noncoplanar symmetric arrangement. The binding energy spectra and electron momentum distributions (EMDs) of iso-dichloroethylene valence shell have been obtained. Theoretical EMDs are predicted with both Hartree-Fock and density functional theory methods, generally indicating good agreements with the measurement results. The interference effect is observed to significantly influence the EMDs of 2a2 and 5b2 Cl lone-pair orbitals.

Electron Momentum Spectroscopy Study on Inner Orbitals of Methyl iodide

The binding energy spectrum and electron momentum profiles of the inner orbitals of methyl iodide have been measured using an electron momentum spectrometer at the impact energy of 1200 e V plus binding energy.Two peaks in the binding energy spectrum,arising from the spin-orbit splitting,are observed and the corresponding electron momentum profiles are obtained.Relativistic density functional calculations are performed to elucidate the experimental electron momentum profiles of two spin-orbit splitting components,showing agreement with each other except for the intensity in low momentum region.The measured high intensity in the low momentum region can be further explained by the distorted wave calculation.

Electron momentum spectroscopy of NF_3

The electronic structure of nitrogen trifluoride was investigated by combining the high-resolution electron momentum spectroscopy with the high-level calculations. The experimental binding energy spectra and the momentum distributions of each orbital were compared with the results of Hartree-Fock, density functional theory （DFT）, and symmetry-adapted- cluster configuration-interaction （SAC-CI） methods. SAC-CI and DFT-B3LYP with the aug-cc-pVTZ basis set can well reproduce the binding energy spectra and the observed momentum distributions of the valence orbitals except 1 a2 and 4e orbitals. It was found that the calculated momentum distributions using DFT-B3LYP are even better than those using the high-level SAC-CI method.

Assessment of delocalized and localized molecular orbitals through electron momentum spectroscopy

Recently, there was a hot controversy about the concept of localized orbitals, which was triggered by Grushow＇s work titled ＂Is it time to retire the hybrid atomic orbital？＂ [J. Chem. Educ. 88, 860 （2011）]. To clarify the issue, we assess the delocalized and localized molecular orbitals from an experimental view using electron momentum spectroscopy. The delocalized and localized molecular orbitals based on various theoretical models for CH4, NH3, and H20 are compared with the experimental momentum distributions. Our results show that the delocalized molecular orbitals rather than the localized ones can give a direct interpretation of the experimental （e, 2e） results.

Valence orbitals of W(CO)_6 using electron momentum spectroscopy

The binding energy spectra and the momentum distributions of the outer valence orbitals of W（CO）6 have been studied by using electron momentum spectroscopy as well as non-relativistic, scalar relativistic and spin-orbital relativistic DFT-B3LYP calculations. The experimental momentum profiles of the outer valence orbitals obtained with the impact energies of 1200 eV and 2400 eV were compared with various theoretical calculation results. The relativistic calculations could provide better descriptions for the experimental momentum distributions than the non-relativistic ones. Moreover, a new ordering of orbitals 10tlu, 3t2g, and 7eg, i.e., 10t_lu 〈 3t_2g 〈7e_g 〈10a_lg, is established in this work.

The inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy of edge-modified graphene nanoribbon-based molecular devices

The inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy（IETS） of four edge-modified finite-size grapheme nanoribbon（GNR）-based molecular devices has been studied by using the density functional theory and Green＇s function method. The effects of atomic structures and connection types on inelastic transport properties of the junctions have been studied. The IETS is sensitive to the electrode connection types and modification types. Comparing with the pure hydrogen edge passivation systems, we conclude that the IETS for the lower energy region increases obviously when using donor–acceptor functional groups as the edge modification types of the central scattering area. When using donor–acceptor as the electrode connection groups, the intensity of IETS increases several orders of magnitude than that of the pure ones. The effects of temperature on the inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy also have been discussed. The IETS curves show significant fine structures at lower temperatures. With the increasing of temperature, peak broadening covers many fine structures of the IETS curves.The changes of IETS in the low-frequency region are caused by the introduction of the donor–acceptor groups and the population distribution of thermal particles. The effect of Fermi distribution on the tunneling current is persistent.

Spin Noise Spectroscopy in N-GaAs:Spin Relaxation of Localized Electrons

Spin noise spectroscopy （SNS） of electrons in n-doped bulk GaAs is studied as functions of temperature and the probe-laser energy. Experimental results show that the SNS signal comes from localized electrons in the donor band. The spin relaxation time of electrons~ which is retrieved from the SNS measurement, depends on the probe light energy and temperature, and it can be ascribed to the variation of electron localization degree.

A double toroidal analyzer for scanning probe electron energy spectrometer

An ultra-high vacuum （UHV） compatible electron spectrometer employing a double toroidal analyzer has been de- veloped. It is designed to be combined with a custom-made scanning tunneling microscope （STM） to study the spatially localized electron energy spectrum on a surface. A tip-sample system composed of a piezo-driven field-emission tungsten tip and a sample of highly ordered pyrolytic graphite （HOPG） is employed to test the performance of the spectrometer. Two-dimensional images of the energy-resolved and angle-dispersed electrons backscattered from the surface of HOPG are obtained, the performance is optimized and the spectrometer is calibrated. A complete electron energy loss spectrum covering the elastic peak to the secondary electron peaks for the HOPG surface, acquired at a tip voltage of -140 V and a sample current of 0.5 pA, is presented, demonstrating the viability of the spectrometer.