Auger Spectroscopy

Thema:
Modeling Auger spectra for simple systems

Einordnung:
Soft X-ray L-edge spectroscopy has become a standard technique to investigate the intricate details of the electronic structure of transition metal compounds. After absorbing an X-ray photon the core-hole is created. For the light elements, the main decay channel of the highly instable core-excited state occurs according to non-radiative Auger electron emission mechanism. Being two orders of magnitude more intense than the photon emission, the Auger electron signal is a sensitive and convenient probe of the local electronic structure. However, interpretation of complex experimental spectra and verification of experimental hypotheses is a non-trivial task and a powerful first principles theoretical approaches that allow for a systematic investigation of a broad class of compounds are needed.

Beschreibung:
The student is supposed to join the ongoing research project dedicated to the development of theoretical tools for modeling Auger spectra. One of the objectives includes the thorough testing of the accuracy of the existing program on the example of a simple few-atomic system. Further, various local approximations are to be checked in order to increase computational efficiency with small decrease in accuracy. The work includes an introduction to X-ray and Auger spectroscopy and multi-reference first principles electronic structure methods. Further, technical skills in Linux, scripting, and scientific writing will be trained.

Betreuer: Dr. Sergey Bokarev