Photoionization relativistic effects

To account for the interchannel coupling, or, which is the same, electron correlation in calculations of photoionization parameters, various many-body theories exist. In this paper, following Refs. [20,29,30,33], the focus is on results obtained in the framework of both the nonrelativistic random phase approximation with exchange (RPAE) [55] and its relativistic analogy the relativistic random phase approximation (RRPA) [56]. RPAE makes use of a nonrelativistic HF approximation as the zero-order approximation. RRPA is based upon the relativistic Dirac HF approximation as the zero-order basis, so that relativistic effects are included not as perturbations but explicitly. Both RPAE and RRPA implicitly sum up certain electron-electron perturbations, including the interelectron interaction between electrons from... 

Relativistic effects in photoionization of atoms encaged in C60/ A Cso, have fallen under theoretical scrutiny in [29,30], where the photoionization spectra of valence ns subshells in encaged alkaline-earth-metal atoms ( Mg, Ca, Sr and Ba) were detailed. The corresponding key results of [29,30] are highlighted in this section. 

DV-Xa molecular orbital calculation is demonstrated to be very efficient for theoretical analysis of the photoelectron and x-ray spectroscopies. For photoelectron spectroscopy, Slater s transition state calculation is very effective to give an accurate peak energy, taking account of the orbital relaxation effect. The more careful analysis including the spin-polarized and the relativistic effects substantially improves the theoretical results for the core level spectrum. By consideration of the photoionization cross section, better theoretical spectrum can be obtained for the valence band structure than the ordinary DOS spectrum. The realistic model cluster reproduce very well the valence state spectrum in details. 

During the coming years, one can expect the activity in this field to become even more intense, in part because of the increase in the number of synchrotron facilities and techniques for photoelectron spectroscopy. It is expected that there will be very extensive measurements of photoionization with excitation including resonance structure and double photoionization over wide energy ranges including studies of inner shells. There will be measurements of partial cross sections, angular distributions, and spin polarizations. This last topic, which has recently received considerable attention,was deferred to the paper by W. Johnson in this volume since it depends on relativistic effects. 

The complete experiment for 2p photoionization in magnesium described previously depends on the validity of the non-relativistic LSJ-coupling scheme and on the existence of a simple subsequent Auger transition. However, such conditions are rarely met, since in heavier elements spin-orbit effects cannot be neglected, and for outer-shell photoionization no subsequent decay is possible. In order to perform a complete experiment for such cases,f measurement of the spin-polarization of the photoelectrons is necessary. As an example, 5p photoionization in xenon will be discussed. 

The information obtainable from photoelectron polarization measurements is reviewed, for both atoms and molecules, by Heinzmann and Cherepkov (1996). Even at non-relativistic excitation energy, photoelectrons can be spin-polarized (Fano, 1969). For l / 0 atoms, due to the spin-orbit splitting of the initial atomic and/or the final ionic state, photoelectrons are in most cases highly spin-polarized (up to 100%) when photoexcited with circularly polarized light. Analogous effects occur in molecular photoionization, but systematic studies have only been made for hydrogen halide molecules, HX. The electronic ground state of HX+ is X2n. 

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