Electron Self-Energy in a Metal Measured from a Beam-Threshold Effect in Low-Energy Electron Diffraction

Abstract

Low-energy electron diffraction from the copper (111) surface contains fine structure which is correlated with the emergence of beams in the metal. It is found that the fine structure determines points on the inner potential versus energy curve with virtually no dependence on surface relaxation. Postulating that the absorption of electrons is relatively weak in the ion cores, the authors present a low-energy electron-diffraction theory which predicts that electrons can channel through the ion cores of the layers parallel to the surface.