Screening of the Photon Field in Surface Photoemission from Simple Metals

TL;DR

This paper improves a hydrodynamic model for angle-resolved photoemission in simple metals by using a soft analytic function to model the surface, enabling more accurate screening of the photon field and electronic wave functions.

Contribution

It introduces a refined modeling approach with a soft surface function, enhancing the calculation of photoemission spectra in simple metals.

Findings

The main spectral peak is not due to direct multipole mode excitation.

The model can handle arbitrary ground state densities perpendicular to the surface.

The behavior of spectral peaks varies with model parameters.

Abstract

A previous two-step hydrodynamic model calculation of angle-resolved photoemission has been improved by modeling the surface with a soft analytic function. The same ground-state potential is used to screen the photon field and to calculate the electronic wave functions. The implemented code can be used for arbitrary ground state densities along the perpendicular direction. Mathematical and physical aspects of the model are discussed extensively. The behavior of the main peak of the spectrum in response to the variation of some parameters leads us to the conclusion that the peak cannot be interpreted as the direct excitation of multipole modes. This conclusion was suggested in the previous two-step model calculation.