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The role of surface plasmons in the decay of image-potential states on silver surfaces

A. Garcia-Lekue·J. M. Pitarke·E. V. Chulkov·A. Liebsch·P. M. Echenique
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Abstract

The combined effect of single-particle and collective surface excitations in the decay of image-potential states on Ag surfaces is investigated, and the origin of the long-standing discrepancy between experimental measurements and previous theoretical predictions for the lifetime of these states is elucidated. Although surface-plasmon excitation had been expected to reduce the image-state lifetime, we demonstrate that the subtle combination of the spatial variation of s-d polarization in Ag and the characteristic non-locality of many-electron interactions near the surface yields surprisingly long image-state lifetimes, in agreement with experiment.

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A. Garcia-Lekue, J. M. Pitarke, E. V. Chulkov, A. Liebsch, P. M. Echenique. 2002-07-18. The role of surface plasmons in the decay of image-potential states on silver surfaces. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.89.096401

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