On the effect of microscopic roughness of the metal surface on the surface plasmon dispersion relation and photoemission

Abstract

The effect of microscopic surface roughness on the opical characteristics of metal is considered. The field near the rough surface has been calculated on the basis of integral equations containing only smoothly varying field components. It appears that the influence of surface plasmons can cause, as a result of drastic enhancement of the field at the surface, an increase by several orders in such observed surface effects as photoemission and Raman scattering by adsorbed molecules. The results of calculation are compared with the experimental data obtained from the study of photoemission from silver with rough surface. Expressions have been derived for the dispersion relation for surface plasmons on a rough surface.