Ultrafast Soft X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy at Liquid Water Microjets

Since the pioneering work of Kai Siegbahn, electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA) has been developed into an indispensable analytical technique for surface science. The value of this powerful method of photoelectron spectroscopy (PES, also termed photoemission spectroscopy) and Siegbahn’s contributions were recognized in the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics.The need for high vacuum, however, originally prohibited PES of volatile liquids, and only allowed for investigation of low-vapor-pressure molecules attached to a surface (or close to a surface) or liquid films of low volatility. Only with the invention of liquid beams of volatile liquids compatible with high-vacuum conditions was PES from liquid surfaces under vacuum made feasible. Because of the ubiquity of water interfaces in nature, the liquid water–vacuum interface became a most attractive research topic, particularly over the past 10 years. PES studies of these important aqueous interfaces remained significantly challenging because of the ...