  The electronic structure in alkaline earth AeO (Ae = Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba) and
post-transition metal oxides MeO (Me = Zn, Cd, Hg) is probed with oxygen K-edge
X-ray absorption and emission spectroscopy. The experimental data is compared
with density functional theory electronic structure calculations. We use our
experimental spectra of the oxygen K-edge to estimate the bandgaps of these
materials, and compare our results to the range of values available in the
literature.
