PLASMON EFFECTS IN THE PARTICLE-INDUCED KINETIC ELECTRON-EMISSION FROM SOLIDS

Starting from a microscopic description of the particle-induced kinetic electron emission based on the transport equation formalism, the role of different excitation and scattering mechanisms is investigated. Especially, the excitation of electrons by decay of plasmons generated by the impinging particle results in an important contribution to the electron yield. In the case of ion-induced kinetic electron emission, the special features of the energy distribution of emitted electrons are related to the plasmon damping and the plasmon dispersion. In order to describe the available experimental results on nearly-free-electron metals (A1,Mg) in a consistent way, plasmon effects must be taken into account within the excitation process as well as in the description of the transport of excited electrons towards the surface of the solid.