Mapping unoccupied electronic states of freestanding graphene by angle-resolved low-energy electron transmission

Abstract

We report angle-resolved electron transmission measurements through freestanding graphene sheets in the energy range of 18 to 30 eV above the Fermi level. The measurements are carried out in a low-energy electron point source microscope, which allows simultaneously probing the transmission for a large angular range. The characteristics of low-energy electron transmission through graphene depend on its electronic structure above the vacuum level. The experimental technique described here allows mapping of the unoccupied band structure of freestanding two-dimensional materials as a function of the energy and probing angle, respectively, in-plane momentum. Our experimental findings are consistent with theoretical predictions of a resonance in the band structure of graphene above the vacuum level [V. U. Nazarov, E. E. Krasovskii, and V. M. Silkin, Phys. Rev. B 87, 041405 (2013)].