The Ultra Resolved ANgular phOtoelectron Spectroscopy beamline (URANOS) is an experimental installation for studies of the electronic structure of solid surfaces by Angle-Resolved PhotoElectron Spectroscopy (ARPES) technique in the range from 8 to 170 eV with any selectable polarization. The beamline is designed for high photon flux, high resolution, variable polarization, and minimal harmonic contamination.
The ARPES technique has an extremely important place among methods of studying the structure of matter because it allows the measurement of fundamental parameters for electrons: energy, momentum and spin. Direct measurement of these parameters is performed for photoelectrons in a vacuum above the surface of the sample. Within the so-called sudden approximation, these parameters can be related to the binding energy and momentum of the electron in the sample prior to the photoelectric excitation.
Due to this technique, it is possible to study the band structure quickly and thoroughly in four dimensions (kx, ky, kz, and E) including the effects of electron correlations, electron-phonon, electron-dopant interactions. In other words, this technique provides a direct measurement of the multidimensional dispersion relation E(k) in solids.
Many recent advances in materials science have been enabled by better understanding of the electronic structure of complex systems, gained due to ARPES studies.
Examples include advances in fields such as:
- unconventional superconductivity,
- topological materials,
- graphene physics.