Abstract

For over two decades synchrotron radiation (SR) has been utilized to probe atoms and molecules with photons having energies large enough to ionize or excite to neutral levels well above the ionization limit, such as inner-shell or two-electron excitations. The early use of SR for this purpose led to considerable growth of interest in and successful understanding of configuration interaction effects in atomic and molecular systems. Inversely, early results in atomic spectroscopy first demonstrated the power of SR for experimental research and stimulated its exploitation in other fields, such as solid-state physics and surface science, and later materials science and biology. In the early 1970’s, the advent of multiphoton spectroscopy and laser-related VUV sources brought a further surge of interest in experimental and theoretical atomic and molecular physics. Beginning in the late 1970’s this was followed by the exploitation of more intense dedicated SR sources and increasingly sophisticated apparatus to perform multiple spectroscopies on atomic and molecular systems, for example, angle and energy-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, polarized fluorescence from molecular ions aligned by SR photoionization, and detection of polarized electrons from SR photoionization. Finally, the inevitable marriage has taken place between SR and laser sources used in combination to prepare and analyze atomic and molecular systems and their photoionization products.

© 1984 Optical Society of America