Some Experimental and Theoretical Aspects of Structure, Bonding and Reactivity of Organic and Polymeric Systems as Revealed by ESCA

Recent theoretical and experimental developments in the ESCA research programme at Durham are reviewed. Detailed investigations reveal the structural dependence of sample charging phenomena which therefore forms an interesting extra information level for the technique. Direct measurements have been made of electron mean free paths as a function of kinetic energy in both linear and cross linked polymeric systems and these reveal a close similarity to typical metals and semi conductors. The large range of information levels available from the ESCA experiment allow the development of quantitative aspects of the surface science of polymeric systems. Theoretical work has been directed towards the investigation of various aspects of relaxation phenomena accompanying core ionization and data is presented on the enhancement of weak interactions in going to the core hole state manifold and in the study of vibrational fine structure for both direct photoionization and shake up states.