Valence Band Photoelectron Spectroscopy of Liquid Silicon

Valence band photoelectron spectroscopy of liquid silicon has been performed by using a new technique based on laser pulse heating, which has been developed for measuring strongly evaporating systems under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. Such measurements show that liquid silicon is close to a free-electron metal except for a distinct dip in the middle of the spectrum at 5.3 eV binding energy.