  Multiferroic bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) thin films were prepared by pulsed
laser deposition (PLD) technique. Electronic structures of the film have been
studied by in situ photoemission spectroscopy (PES) and x-ray absorption
spectroscopy (XAS). Both the Fe 2p PES and XAS spectra show that Fe ion is
formally in +3 valence state. The Fe 2p and O K edge XAS spectra indicate that
the oxygen octahedral crystal ligand field splits the unoccupied Fe 3d state to
t2g and eg states. Valence band Fe 2p-3d resonant photoemission results
indicate that hybridization between Fe 3d and O 2p plays important role in the
multiferroic BiFeO3 thin films.
