Ultrafast electronic spectroscopy for chemical analysis near liquid water interfaces: concepts and applications

Electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA) being conceptually a photoelectron spectroscopy is established as a chemically specific probe mostly for surface analysis. Liquid phase ESCA for volatile liquids has become possible through the development of the liquid microjet technique in vacuum enabling the measurement of liquid interface photoelectron emission at the high vapor pressure of volatile liquids. Recently we have been able to add the dimension of time to the liquid interface ESCA technique employing high-harmonics soft X-ray and UV/near IR femtosecond pulses in combination with liquid water micro beams in vacuum. The concepts as well as technical details are outlined and several characteristic applications are highlighted.