Design and performance of a spin-polarized electron energy loss spectrometer with high momentum resolution

Abstract

We describe a new "complete" spin-polarized electron energy loss spectrometer comprising a spin-polarized primary electron source, an imaging electron analyzer, and a spin analyzer of the "spin-polarizing mirror" type. Unlike previous instruments, we have a high momentum resolution of less than 0.04 Å-1, at an energy resolution of 90-130 meV. Unlike all previous studies which reported rather broad featureless data in both energy and angle dependence, we find richly structured spectra depending sensitively on small changes of the primary energy, the kinetic energy after scattering, and of the angle of incidence. The key factor is the momentum resolution.