Comprehensive investigation of the electronic excitation of W(CO) by photoabsorption and theoretical analysis in the energy region from 3.9 to 10.8 eV.

High-resolution vacuum ultraviolet photoabsorption measurements in the wavelength range of 115-320 nm (10.8-3.9 eV) have been performed together with comprehensive relativistic time-dependent density functional calculations (TDDFT) on the low-lying excited sates of tungsten hexacarbonyl, W(CO). The higher resolution obtained reveals previously unresolved spectral features of W(CO). The spectrum shows two higher-energy bands (in the energy ranges of 7.22-8.12 eV and 8.15-9.05 eV), one of them with clear vibrational structure, and a few lower-energy shoulders in addition to a couple of lower-energy metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) bands reported in the literature before. Absolute photoabsorption cross sections are reported and, where possible, compared to previously published results. On the basis of this combined experimental/theoretical study the absorption spectrum of the complex has been totally re-assigned between 3.9 and 10.8 eV under the light of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) effects. The present comprehensive knowledge of the nature of the electronically excited states may be of relevance to estimate neutral dissociation cross sections of W(CO), a precursor molecule in focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID) processes, from electron scattering measurements.