Inelastic low energy electron diffraction at metal surfaces

The role of incident electrons penetration under a metal surface in electron energy loss spectroscopy is considered within the fully quantum-mechanical approach. The stabilized jellium model of the surface in the semi-infinite geometry and the time-dependent local density approximation for the dynamical response are used. The travel of the projectile electron inside the target metal is treated within the kinematic low energy electron diffraction theory. Confirming our simplified hard-wall reflection model results [Phys. Rev. B 59 (1999) 9866], the dramatic enhancement of the multipole plasmon peak as compared with the dipole-mode calculations is obtained for Na and Cs, which is in a qualitative agreement with the experiment. However, for K the calculation fails to explain the experiment, which discrepancy is discussed and the future improvements of the method are outlined.