Elemental and chemical imaging of interfaces with the scanning photoemission microscope on ELETTRA

The first results obtained by the scanning photoemission microscope on ELETTRA have proved that the photoemission spectroscopy is approaching the mesoscopic world, thanks to the high brightness and coherence of the light provided by the third-generation synchrotron sources. The high performance level achieved in spectromicroscopy, as far as spatial resolution and signal in imaging are concerned, has made possible compositional mapping of laterally heterogeneous interfaces with submicron-sized subphases. Using selected results, the importance of imaging in photoemission, the artifacts and the methods with which to handle them, and some unforeseen phenomena caused by the intense focused photon flux are discussed.