Photoemission spectroscopy—from early days to recent applications

In this review we describe the development of photoemission spectroscopy (PES) from the first historic observations of the photoelectric effect by Hertz and Hallwachs to state-of-the-art experiments. We present several examples for the application of PES for chemical analysis of solids (ESCA), the determination of the valence band structure by angle-resolved photoemission (ARUPS), and the investigation of many-body effects, in particular by high-resolution PES on the meV-scale. Furthermore, we give a brief overview about the wide spectrum of experimental methods based on PES.