Holographic atomic images from surface and bulk W(110) photoelectron diffraction data

Abstract

Photoelectron diffraction data can, in principle, be regarded as enabling the experimental recording of electron diffraction phases (relative to a direct reference wave), as well as intensities, thus also permitting the holographic reconstruction of atomic positions. Such holographic photoelectron diffraction patterns have been measured for surface and bulk core-level-shifted W $4f$ photoemission from W(110), yielding a data set of unprecedented size and quality. To test the role of experimental uncertainties and of multiple-scattering effects, we have also performed corresponding theoretical calculations at the single- and multiple-scattering levels. The surface and bulk holograms so obtained have been analyzed so as to provide the first parallel comparison of the three-dimensional atomic images that can be directly obtained via the five principal reconstruction algorithms proposed to date. The advantages and disadvantages of each of these methods are discussed. The prospects and limitations of atomic photoelectron holography as an ab initio technique for determining local-surface structures are also explored.