XANES study of 3d oxides: Dependence on crystal structure

XANES measurements are reported for a number of transition metal oxides. Oxide phases, in which the transition element could be widely varied (within the 3d series) while preserving the crystal structure, were systematically examined. The materials examined include monoxides, perovskites, zircons and spinels. For those samples of a given oxide phase, the near edge spectra are nearly identical but spectra for different phases are dissimilar. These observations are consistent with the simplest view of the x-ray absorption process, namely that dipole selection rules are obeyed and spectral features predominately result from transitions between the K shell and empty states with p-character.