Date of Award
2024
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Physics
Department
Physics
First Advisor
David Heskett
Abstract
Inverse photoemission spectroscopy (IPES) is an effective technique for determining the unoccupied electron states at a surface. It has often been described as a complimentary analysis technique to photoemission spectroscopy (PES). In contrast to photoemission, IPES analyzes the states above the Fermi energy. This method provides valuable information about a region that photoemission is unable to explore. Low energy electron diffraction (LEED) is an analysis technique for determining the surface structure of a material. LEED spot intensity measurements can be used to study the reconstruction of metal surfaces following ion-induced surface damage and thermal annealing.
In this thesis, three studies are presented using IPES and LEED to investigate the Ni(110) surface. Results from the thermal recovery study indicate that spot intensity, and the intensity of an unoccupied electron state show a linear dependence as a function of annealing temperature following Ar+ ion bombardment. In the second study, IPES and a first-order reaction model were used to determine the activation energy of surface self-diffusion. In this study, the isothermal treatment following ion-induced surface damage showed a cumulative exponential distribution relationship between the intensity of an unoccupied surface state and time. In the third study, IPES was used to determine the effective surface Debye temperature of Ni(110). The results of this study showed a monotonic increase in the characteristic temperatures of an unoccupied surface state as a function of the angle of electron incidence, and a Debye-Waller model was used to estimate the effective surface Debye temperature.
Recommended Citation
Carruba, Christopher Lee Jr., "THERMAL AND ISOTHERMAL INVESTIGATIONS OF THE NI(110) SURFACE WITH LEED AND IPES" (2024). Open Access Dissertations. Paper 1681.
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/oa_diss/1681