Ultraviolet Photoelectron Spectroscopy - History

History

Prior to 1960, virtually all measurements of photoelectron kinetic energies were for electrons emitted from metals and other solid surfaces. About 1956 Kai Siegbahn developed X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for surface chemical analysis. This method uses x-ray sources to study energy levels of atomic core electrons, and at the time had an energy resolution of about 1 eV (electronvolt).

The ultraviolet method (UPS) was developed to study the photoelectron spectra of free molecules in the gas phase by David W. Turner, a physical chemist at Imperial College in London and then at Oxford University, in a series of publications from 1962 to 1967. As a photon source, he used a helium discharge lamp which emits a wavelength of 58.4 nm (corresponding to an energy of 21.2 eV) in the vacuum ultraviolet region. With this source Turner’s group obtained an energy resolution of 0.02 eV. Turner referred to the method as “molecular photoelectron spectroscopy”, now usually “Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy” or UPS. As compared to XPS, UPS is limited to energy levels of valence electrons, but measures them more accurately. After 1967 commercial UPS spectrometers became available.

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