extended x-ray absorption fine structure

extended x-ray absorption fine structure [ik¦stend·əd ′eks‚rā əb′sȯrp·shən ¦fīn ′strək·chər]

(physics)

A variation in the x-ray absorption of a substance as a function of energy, at energies just above that required for photons to liberate core electrons into the continuum; it is due to interference between the outgoing photoelectron waves and electron waves backscattered from atoms adjacent to the absorbing atoms. Abbreviated EXAFS.

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Extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS)

The structured absorption on the high-energy side of an x-ray absorption edge. The absorption edges for an element are abrupt increases in x-ray absorption that occur when the energy of the incident x-ray matches the binding energy of a core electron (typically a 1s or a 2p electron). For x-ray energies above the edge energy, a core electron is ejected from the atom. The ejected core electron can be thought of as a spherical wave propagating outward from the absorbing atom. The photoelectron wavelength is determined by its kinetic energy, which is in turn determined by the difference between the incident x-ray energy and the core-electron binding energy. As the x-ray energy increases, the kinetic energy of the photoelectron increases, and thus its wavelength decreases. See Absorption of electromagnetic radiation, Light, Photoemission, Quantum mechanics

The x-ray-excited photoelectron will be scattered by the neighboring atoms surrounding the absorbing atom. The portion of the photoelectron wave that is scattered back in the direction of the absorbing atom is responsible for the EXAFS oscillations. If the outgoing and backscattered photoelectron waves are out of phase and thus interfere destructively, there is a local minimum in the x-ray absorption cross section. At a higher x-ray energy (shorter photoelectron wavelength), constructive interference leads to a local maximum in x-ray absorption (see illustration). EXAFS thus arises from photoelectron scattering, making it a spectroscopically detected scattering method. See Interference of waves, Scattering of electromagnetic radiation

X-ray absorption spectrum for manganese, showing XANES and EXAFS regions

EXAFS typically refers to structured absorption from approximately 50 to 1000 eV or more above the absorption edge. X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) is often used to refer to the structure in the near (around 50 eV) region of the edge. X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) has gained some currency as a reference to the entire structured absorption region (XANES+EXAFS).

EXAFS spectra contain structural information comparable to that obtained from single-crystal x-ray diffraction. The principal advantage of EXAFS in comparison with crystallography is that EXAFS is a local structure probe and does not require the presence of long-range order. This means that EXAFS can be used to determine the local structure in noncrystalline samples. See X-ray crystallography