Effects of molecular potential and geometry on atomic core-level photoemission over an extended energy range - the case study of CO molecule

We report an experimental and theoretical study of single-molecule inner-shell photoemission over an extended range of photon energies. The vibrational ratios v=1/v=0 from the C 1s photoelectron spectra, although mostly determined by the bond length change, are shown to be affected also by photoelectron recoil and scattering on the neighboring oxygen atom. Density functional theory is used to encompass all these effect in unified treatment. It is also demonstrated that the DFT calculations can be used as a means to extract dynamic and static molecular geometry values.