Geometrical Factors in Enhanced Photoyield from Small Metal Particles

Abstract

A model in which photoexcited electrons in small metal particles are scattered elastically from the boundaries and travel inelastically within is included in a free-electron theory which successfully explains the enhanced photoelectric quantum yield of these systems relative to macroscopic metal surfaces. Application of the theory to the Ag-O-Cs photoemitter where elastic scattering dominates, and to Ag aerosols, where optical-thickness and energy-threshold differences between particles of different diameters dominate, gives good results with experiment.