Synthesis of photoactive metal oxide films for study using time-resolved x-ray techniques

We propose to study cuprous oxide thin film growth and expand the scope of the work to other transition-metal-oxide systems. Transition-metal oxides have many interesting photophysical and photoelectrochemical properties that could be utilized in the conversion of solar energy to electrical and chemical energy. We intend to study these properties with ultrafast soft x-ray spectroscopy, and consequently require thin film transition-metal oxide films grown on x-ray transparent Si3N4 windows.