Plasmon Effects in Field Ion Emission

Abstract

The observed oscillatory structures in the energy distribution of field-emitted ions are interpreted as due to discrete energy losses from multiple excitations of surface plasmons in the metal tip. The shape of the loss spectrum and its dependence on field strength agree with experiment. Plasmon losses are shown to influence the ion-energy distribution in field desorption of evaporation and may also affect the ultimate mass resolution of the "atom-probe" microscope.