Angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy and surface states

Abstract

Angle Resolved Photo Emission Spectroscopy (ARPES) has been a very effective tool to study the electronic states of solids, from simple metals to complex systems like cuprate superconductors. For photon energy in the range of 10 - 100 eV, it is a surface sensitive process as the free path of the photo emitted electrons is of the order of a few lattice parameters. However to interpret the experimental data one needs to have a theoretical foundation for the photoemission process. From the theory of photoemission it may be seen that one can get information about the state from which the electron has been excited. As the translational periodicity is broken normal to the surface, a new type of electron state in the forbidden energy gap can exist localized in the surface region. ARPES can reveal the existence and the property of such surface states. We shall also discuss briefly how the electromagnetic field of the photons are influenced by the presence of the surface and how one can try to take that into account in photoemission theory.