Recoil Effect of Photoelectrons in the Fermi-Edge of Simple Metals

TL;DR

This study investigates the recoil effect of photoelectrons near the Fermi-edge in simple metals using high-resolution spectroscopy, revealing shifts and broadening explained by a Bloch electron model.

Contribution

It demonstrates the recoil effect in photoelectron spectra of Al and Au at high excitation energies, supported by a simple theoretical model.

Findings

Fermi energy shift in Al due to recoil effect

Spectral broadening observed at high excitation energy

Model reproduces experimental spectra accurately

Abstract

High energy resolution photoelectron spectroscopy of conduction electrons in the vicinity of the Fermi-edge in Al and Au at the excitation energy of 880 and 7940 eV was carried out using synchrotron radiation. For the excitation energy of 7940 eV, the observed Fermi energy of Al shows a remarkable shift to higher binding energy as compared with that of Au, with accompanying broadening. This is due to the recoil effect of the emitted photoelectrons. The observed spectra are well reproduced by a simple model of Bloch electrons based on the isotropic Debye model.