Time-resolved valence band photoelectron spectroscopy of liquid AuSn

The solid - liquid - solid-phase transitions of a alloy have been investigated by means of the recently developed method of time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, using dye laser pulses to melt the sample surface on a microsecond scale. Starting at a temperature of the liquid sample just above the melting point (740 K), the laser pulse heating allowed us to obtain, for the first time, valence band spectra of an alloy at temperatures of up to 1620 K, distinctly above the vapour pressure limit of steady-state photoelectron spectroscopy. The photoemission results of the liquid at different temperatures are compared with data from the corresponding amorphous alloy, prepared by vapour condensation at liquid-nitrogen temperature. By increasing the temperature of the disordered phase, the Au 5d band is found to shift continuously toward a lower binding energy, showing a linear behaviour over the whole temperature range. Our measurements confirm earlier results obtained with conventional photoemission within a restricted temperature range. The results presented here clearly show the potential of the new technique to investigate the electronic structure of alloys at conditions under which standard photoemission experiments cannot be performed.