Resonant inverse photoemission in 4f systems

Resonant inverse photoemission spectroscopy (RIPES) is a new spectroscopic probe of the electronic states in solids. It exploits the resonant enhancem ent of the inverse photoemission cross section occurring at appropriate cor e absorption edges, and is therefore the counterpart of resonant photoemiss ion for the unoccupied states. We present the results of a RIPES investigat ion of cerium-based Kondo systems, which illustrate the main aspects of the technique, and briefly review some recent developments involving these and other systems. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.