Diffraction and holography with photoelectrons and Auger electrons: Some new directions

摘要

The current status of photoelectron and Auger-electron diffraction is reviewed, with emphasis on new directions of activity. The use of forward scattering in the study of adsorbed molecules, epitaxial overlayers, and clean surfaces is one of the most developed applications, and one that will become more powerful as higher energy resolution and perhaps spin analysis are used to resolve emitters on the basis of chemical state, position at a surface, or magnetic state. The use of larger data sets spanning a considerable fraction of the solid angle above a surface will also much enhance the structural information available, for example, in the growth of epitaxial layers or nanostructures on surfaces. Detailed fitting of experimental data to theoretical calculations based upon either single scattering or multiple scattering should also provide more rich structural information, including such parameters as substrate interlayer relaxation. Surface phase transitions in which near-surface layers become highly disordered can also be studied, with results that are complementary to those from such techniques as low energy electron diffraction and medium energy ion scattering. Short-range magnetic order also can be probed by somehow resolving the spin of the outgoing electrons, e.g. by using multiplet-split core levels.