La motivation principale de cette thèse a été de déterminer les avantages et les inconvénients de l'utilisation de la spectroscopie de photoémission résolue en angle dans le domaine des rayons X mous.<br />L'étude d'un système bien connu, Ag(001) nous permet de discuter plusieurs questions telles que le rôle de la quantité de mouvement du photon, la pertinence de l'approximation d'électron libre à l'état final, et le rôle des phonons. La polarisation de la lumière incidente a aussi été exploitée. En choisissant un tel système, nous avons aussi voulu comparer les résultats expérimentaux avec des spectres calculés de photoémission résolue en angle dans cette gamme d'énergie.<br />Le comportement à basse température atypique des composés de Cérium est généralement imputé à l'effet Kondo. Des résultats originaux ont été obtenus en étudiant la bande de valence de trois composés monocristallins iso-structuraux de Cérium, CeCu2Ge2, CeNi2Ge2 et CeCo2Ge2. La position du seuil d'absorption M5 du Cérium dans la bande d'énergie des rayons X mous est exploitée pour isoler la contribution 4f à ces spectres. De plus, l'utilisation de photons incidents d'énergie relativement élevée permet de minimiser les effets de surface. Les spectres de photoémission présentés dans cette thèse incluent des études de dépendance en température, des spectres à la résonance, des spectres résolus en angle ou bien intégrés angulairement. Les premiers sont en accord avec le modèle d'impureté unique d'Anderson, alors que les derniers suggèrent qu'il est important de prendre en compte le réseau cristallin.

The properties of RNiSb compounds were studied from various points of view: Magnetism, transport, electronic structure. The compounds with a light rare earth are metallic, while the cubic phases with a heavy rare earth element have the semi-Heusler structure and are narrow gap semiconductors. A giant magnetoresistance effect was found at low temperatures, the larger as the density of charge carriers is weak. It was explained by the polarisation of the impurity levels situated within the band gap of the semiconductor under the field of the magnetic moment of the 4f shell. The crystal field, as well as the magnetic order at low temperatures, were studied by neutron scattering and diffraction. Particular magnetic properties (absence of magnetic order in the Pr compound, antiferromagnetic structure in the second group, orientation of the moments) have been explained, at least qualitatively. CeNiSb is a Kondo-type compound with a Kondo temperature of about 8 K. Photoemission measurements have allowed to analyse the electronic structure in the valence band of these compounds, in agreement with band structure calculations. By resonant photoemission of TbNiSb and GdCu, different resonance channels have been resolved, which depend on the spin configuration of the excited states.

The present thesis concerns aspects of the interaction ofmatter in gas, liquid and solid phases, with electromagneticradiation, ranging from the optical to the X-ray region. Overthe last decade the availability of ultrashort strong laserpulses as well as of high power synchrotron sources of tunableX-ray radiation has stimulated a rapid development of newexperimental techniques which makes it possible to analysedifferent physical, chemical and biological processes inunprecedented detail. All of this urges a concomitantdevelopment of adequate theoretical language and methodscombined with simulation techniques. The first part of the thesis addresses nonlinear propagationof strong optical pulses. This study is motivated by thebreakthrough in synthesis of novel organic materials possessingprespecified nonlinear optical properties and which has led toa multitude of potential applications such as, for example, 3Dimaging and data storage, optical limiting and photodynamiccancer therapy. In order to clarify the underlying physics, astrict solution has been derived of the density matrixequations of a material aiming at an explicit treatment of itsnonlinear polarization without addressing a conventional Taylorexpansion over field amplitudes. Such a formalism is developedfor many-level molecules, allowing to solve the coupledMaxwell's and density matrix equations for the propagation of afew interacting laser pulses through a nonlinear molecularmedium. The theory presented is capable to account formulti-photon processes of an arbitrary order and for differentsaturation effects. The theory is applied to simulations oftwo- and three-photon absorption as well as to upconvertedstimulated emission of organic molecules in solvents. The second part of the thesis is devoted to resonant X-rayRaman scattering from free molecules, solutions and polymerfilms. The temporal analysis of the spectral profiles isperformed using the technique of scattering duration whichallows to select physical processes with different time scales.The slowing-down/speeding-up of the scattering by frequencydetuning provides insight in the formation of the differentparts of the scattering profile like atomic and molecularbands, resonant and vertical scattering channels, anomalousenhancement of the Stokes doubling effect. The lifetimevibrational interference (LVI), playing a crucial role inresonant scattering, is found to strongly influence thedispersion of the Auger resonances of polymers in agreementwith experiment. An almost complete quenching of the scatteringcross section by LVI is observed for the N2molecule. It is found that the interferenceelimination of the scattering amplitude gives valuableinformation on molecular geometry. The electron Doppler effectis minutely studied making use of a wave packet technique. Thesimulations show an "interference burning" of a narrow hole onthe top of the Doppler broadened profile of the Auger spectraof molecular oxygen. For the SF6molecule the Auger Doppler effect is found to besensitive to the detuning due to the scattering anisotropy. Inall of these studies the temporal language was foundconstructive and enormously helpful for understanding theunderlying physical processes. Most theoretical predictionsmade have been verified by experiments.

<p>The present thesis concerns aspects of the interaction ofmatter in gas, liquid and solid phases, with electromagneticradiation, ranging from the optical to the X-ray region. Overthe last decade the availability of ultrashort strong laserpulses as well as of high power synchrotron sources of tunableX-ray radiation has stimulated a rapid development of newexperimental techniques which makes it possible to analysedifferent physical, chemical and biological processes inunprecedented detail. All of this urges a concomitantdevelopment of adequate theoretical language and methodscombined with simulation techniques.</p><p>The first part of the thesis addresses nonlinear propagationof strong optical pulses. This study is motivated by thebreakthrough in synthesis of novel organic materials possessingprespecified nonlinear optical properties and which has led toa multitude of potential applications such as, for example, 3Dimaging and data storage, optical limiting and photodynamiccancer therapy. In order to clarify the underlying physics, astrict solution has been derived of the density matrixequations of a material aiming at an explicit treatment of itsnonlinear polarization without addressing a conventional Taylorexpansion over field amplitudes. Such a formalism is developedfor many-level molecules, allowing to solve the coupledMaxwell's and density matrix equations for the propagation of afew interacting laser pulses through a nonlinear molecularmedium. The theory presented is capable to account formulti-photon processes of an arbitrary order and for differentsaturation effects. The theory is applied to simulations oftwo- and three-photon absorption as well as to upconvertedstimulated emission of organic molecules in solvents.</p><p>The second part of the thesis is devoted to resonant X-rayRaman scattering from free molecules, solutions and polymerfilms. The temporal analysis of the spectral profiles isperformed using the technique of scattering duration whichallows to select physical processes with different time scales.The slowing-down/speeding-up of the scattering by frequencydetuning provides insight in the formation of the differentparts of the scattering profile like atomic and molecularbands, resonant and vertical scattering channels, anomalousenhancement of the Stokes doubling effect. The lifetimevibrational interference (LVI), playing a crucial role inresonant scattering, is found to strongly influence thedispersion of the Auger resonances of polymers in agreementwith experiment. An almost complete quenching of the scatteringcross section by LVI is observed for the N₂molecule. It is found that the interferenceelimination of the scattering amplitude gives valuableinformation on molecular geometry. The electron Doppler effectis minutely studied making use of a wave packet technique. Thesimulations show an "interference burning" of a narrow hole onthe top of the Doppler broadened profile of the Auger spectraof molecular oxygen. For the SF₆molecule the Auger Doppler effect is found to besensitive to the detuning due to the scattering anisotropy. Inall of these studies the temporal language was foundconstructive and enormously helpful for understanding theunderlying physical processes. Most theoretical predictionsmade have been verified by experiments.</p>