Energy loss spectroscopy of Buckminster C60 with twisted electrons: Influence of orbital angular momentum transfer on plasmon generation

TL;DR

This paper theoretically explores how twisted electron beams with orbital angular momentum influence energy loss spectroscopy of C60, revealing selective excitation of plasmons and the role of angular momentum transfer in plasmon generation.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework for analyzing how orbital angular momentum transfer affects plasmon excitation in C60 using twisted-electron EELS, based on ab-initio calculations.

Findings

Orbital angular momentum transfer influences plasmon excitation in C60.

Twisted electron beams enable selective multipolar plasmon excitation.

The study uncovers the interplay between plasmon polarity and angular momentum transfer.

Abstract

Recent experimental progress in creating and controlling singular electron beams that carry orbital angular momentum allows for new types of local spectroscopies. We theoretically investigate the twisted-electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) from the C60 fullerene. Of particular interest are the strong multipolar collective excitations and their selective response to the orbital angular momentum of the impinging electron beam. Based on ab-initio calculations for the collective response we compute EELS signals with twisted electron beams and uncover the interplay between the plasmon polarity and the amount of angular momentum transfer.