Inelastic Electron Scattering from Valence Electrons in Aluminum

Abstract

We wish to report in this paper measurements of the inelastic scattering component due to the collective excitations (plasmons) and single particlehole excitations of the valence electrons in Al. Such scattering contributes to the diffuse electronic scattering seen in electron diffraction patterns and has recently been considered of significance in weak-beam images (see Gai and Howie) . A major problem in the determination of such scattering is the proper correction for multiple scattering. We outline here a procedure which we believe suitably deals with such problems and report the observed single scattering spectrum.In principle, one can use the procedure of Misell and Jones—suitably generalized to three dimensions (qx, qyand #x2206;E)--to derive single scattering profiles. However, such a computation becomes prohibitively large if applied in a brute force fashion since the quasi-elastic scattering (and associated multiple electronic scattering) extends to much larger angles than the multiple electronic scattering on its own.