Reflection electron energy loss spectrum of surface plasmon excitation of Ag: A Monte Carlo study

Abstract

A Monte Carlo simulation method has been used to calculate the reflection electron energy loss spectrum for Ag. The differential inelastic cross-section is obtained from an inhomogeneous electron self-energy in the surface region. A comparison of the calculation result with an experiment shows a remarkable agreement on the spectrum shape. The simulation has clearly shown the component to the surface plasmon excitation due to individual scattering processes along trajectory part, i.e., the loss in vacuum before reflection, the loss in vacuum after reflection and loss in metal events. It is found that the bulk plasmon feature is overwhelmed by the intense surface plasmon feature in the measured spectrum peak at about 3.7 eV. However, 7.5 eV peak contains both surface- and bulk-excitation character.