Electronic structure of copper halides CuI and CuCl: A comparative X-Ray photoelectron and absorption spectroscopy study

The energy distributions of the occupied and unoccupied electronic states for copper halides CuCl and CuI have been investigated using X-ray photoemission and absorption spectroscopy with a highenergy resolution on the equipment of the Russian-German beamline for outlet and monochromatization of synchrotron radiation from the electron storage ring BESSY II. A quasi-molecular analysis of the obtained experimental spectra has revealed that there is a fundamental similarity of the energy structures of the valence band and the conduction band of copper halides CuX (X = Cl, I) due to the identical atomic structure of the studied compounds. The differences in the positions of individual energy subbands in the valence band and the conduction band of CuX and in their intensities in the spectra are associated with different degrees of hybridization of the Cu 3$d$, 4$s$ and X$(n + 1)s$, np valence states, as well as with different sizes of structural units (CuCl$_4$ and CuI$_4$ quasi-molecules) of the studied crystals.