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Collective Electronic Excitations in Thin Ag Films on Ni(111)

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Abstract

The collective electronic excitations in thin Ag films deposited onto the Ni(111) surface were studied by high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy. A broad loss peak at 7.7 eV was assigned to the Ag multipole plasmon, in excellent agreement with calculations based on s-d polarization model. Ag multipole plasmon was excited only at grazing incidence. Furthermore, a strong dependence on the impinging energy exists. Multipole plasmon could be measured only for a very strict range of primary electron beam energies and it was excited by electrons scattered at a reflection plane located just underneath the jellium edge. Such mode was found to be dramatically more sensible to the state of the surface with respect to ordinary surface plasmon. Moreover, we report experimental evidence of interference effects in surface plasmon excitation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Fisica and CNISM, Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze Fisiche della Materia, Università degli Studi della Calabria, 87036, Rende, CS, Italy

    Antonio Politano, Vincenzo Formoso & Gennaro Chiarello

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  1. Antonio Politano
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  2. Vincenzo Formoso
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  3. Gennaro Chiarello
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Correspondence to Antonio Politano.

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Politano, A., Formoso, V. & Chiarello, G. Collective Electronic Excitations in Thin Ag Films on Ni(111). Plasmonics 8, 1683–1690 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-013-9587-x

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