Workshop 3: Electron Spectro-Microscopies with Synchrotron Radiation: Review & Perspectives

Date: Monday, May 18, 2009

Organizer(s): Elio Vescovo (BNL-NSLS), vescovo@bnl.gov; Dario Arena (BNL-NSLS), darena@bnl.gov; Jurek Sadowski (BNL-CFN), sadowski@bnl.gov; David Starr (BNL-CFN), dstarr@bnl.gov

Location: Physics, Bldg. 510

Description: A workshop dedicated to discuss on future perspectives for Electron Spectro-Microscopy with Synchrotron Radiation. This effort seems particularly appropriate at this juncture in our Laboratory, due to the imminent development of the NSLSII project. We envision the following techniques to be prominently included in the workshop: - Low Energy Electron Microscopy/ Photoemission Electron Microscopy - Scanning Ambient Pressure Photoemission Microscopy - High-Resolution Photoemission with nano-focused Light. Photoelectron spectroscopies are indispensable tools to probe the electronic structures of materials. They can be used to examine a variety of diverse topics ranging from quantitative chemical analysis of solid-gas reactions, to ground and excited states of complex materials, to emergent properties in nano-confined systems. Additionally an intriguing recent development is ambient pressure photoemission spectroscopy, which greatly facilitates the analysis of all these issues in environmentally relevant conditions. In recent years, the recognition of sample inhomogeneity has become a prominent topic in condensed matter Physics and in Materials Science. Hence, photoelectron spectroscopies have been combined with powerful microscopy techniques to develop an understanding of material properties at the micro- and nano-scales. In particular two quite opposite strategies have been employed to this end: either adapting a full field electron microscope to image photoelectrons (PEEM) or use of X-ray optics to focus the light to a few nanometers and acquiring the photoelectron spectra by a scanning technique. In this workshop we aim at bringing together microscopists and spectroscopists to discuss the major challenges and opportunities in the field of Electron Spectro-Microscopy with Synchrotron Radiation. We envision covering the following topics: - electronic structure at the nanoscale: effects of electron confinement in nanosytems; - inhomogeneous systems: both intrinsic, as in chemical reaction, as well as accidental, as in complex systems; - magnetic domains: their structure and dynamics; - surface reaction and surface alloys - ambient pressure photoemission: toward the analysis of “real life” systems - nanocatalysts: role of the nano-scale in promoting chemical reactions - catalysis: toward a fundamental description - environmental surfaces - microscale reactors - aberration corrected LEEM/PEEM : reaching the ultimate limit of spatial resolution of the PEEM instrument - scanning microscopies: a review of the current status and future perspectives