The optical-orientation technique is applied to clarify the electronic valence-band structure of gold near the $L$ point. Interband energies which are unobservable in standard photoemission experiments have been determined. They show that existing relativistic band calculations are accurate within a few tenths of an eV in the $k$ region considered.

• Received 22 April 1980

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.47.374