Surface structural information from photoelectron diffraction

The coherent elastic scattering by surrounding atoms of a photoelectron wave field emitted from an atomic core level provides structural information on the environment of the emitter. This basic phenomenon leads to a range of interrelated methods, the information content of which depends on the photoelectron energy and the mode of detection (angle-scan or energy-scan). A short review is presented of these methods and their application to the investigation of atomic and molecular adsorbates and epitaxial films and particles, using both laboratory-based instrumentation and synchrotron radiation. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.