Experimental Determination of Electron Transition Probabilities in Elementary Electron-Phonon Scattering Processes Using Electron-Energy-Loss Spectroscopy: The Example of Graphite

TL;DR

This study combines high-resolution electron-energy-loss spectroscopy and low-energy electron diffraction to measure electron transition probabilities in graphite, revealing their dependence on electronic states and providing insights into electron-phonon coupling strengths.

Contribution

It introduces a method to experimentally determine electron transition probabilities and coupling constants in electron-phonon scattering processes on graphite surfaces.

Findings

Transition probabilities depend on initial electronic states.

Measured probabilities reflect electron-phonon coupling strength.

Bulk and evanescent states show different scattering behaviors.

Abstract

We have investigated coupling constants in elementary electron-phonon scattering processes on a graphite surface by the combined use of high-resolution electron-energy-loss spectroscopy (HREELS) and very low-energy electron diffraction (VLEED). HREELS is used to measure the modulations of electron transition probabilities from incoming electrons in vacuum to outgoing electrons in vacuum where the transition includes one-phonon scattering processes inside a solid. Determining the electronic band structures of graphite with VLEED, we defined electronic states of the solid surface that electrons entered before and after scattering off phonons. Thus, we observed that the measured electron transition probabilities significantly depended on whether the electrons were in a bulk Bloch state or an evanescent state before scattering off the phonons. This result clearly indicates that the measured electron transition probabilities reflect the strength of the coupling constants in the solid.