Photoelectron diffraction mapping: molecules illuminated from within

Phys Rev Lett. 2001 Jul 2;87(1):013002. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.013002. Epub 2001 Jun 18.

Abstract

We demonstrate the use of a multiparticle coincidence technique to image the diffraction of an electron wave whose source is placed at a specific site in a free molecule. Core-level photoelectrons are used to illuminate the molecule from within. By measuring the vector momenta of two molecular fragments and the photoelectron, a richly structured electron diffraction pattern is obtained in a body-fixed frame of the randomly oriented molecule in the gas phase. We illustrate this technique for CO, creating a photoelectron from the C(1s) shell and scanning its energy from zero to 30 eV.