An Overview of Research at NBS Using Synchrotron Radiation at SURF-II

The National Bureau of Standards (NBS) Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility (SURF-II) is used in conjunction with several high throughput monochromators to study the interaction of vacuum ultraviolet photons with solids and gases. Recent work has been concerned with the photon stimulated desorption of atomic and molecular ions from surfaces, with the effect of electric fields on molecular photoabsorption and with the study of molecular photoionization by angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. These research programs yield new information about molecular bonding at surfaces, molecular dynamics near ionization thresholds, and the coupling of the electronic and nuclear motion near resonances in molecules. In addition to these programs in basic research SURF-II is used for the calibration of transfer standard detectors over a photon energy range 20-250 eV. Calibration of monochromator systems is achieved over the photon energy range 5-250 eV by using the now calculable spectral intensity radiated by the electrons, which are confined in a nearly circular orbit.