Spin-dependence of absorbed and reflected current on Fe(110) and a comparison with secondary electron polarization fine structure

Abstract

Measurements of the normalized difference in the absorption and reflection of low-energy electrons with opposite spin-polarization, and the spin-polarization of low-energy secondary electrons, from Fe(110) are found to be influenced by the spin-split bulk band structure. Maxima and minima in the absorbed and reflected current asymmetries are interpreted in terms of band structure effects and are shown to be directly related to the spin-polarization fine structure in low-energy secondary electron emission from ferromagnets. The feasibility of using spin-dependent low-energy electron reflection from ferromagnets as an electron spin-polarization detector is discussed.