V. M. Silkin

Theory of surface plasmons and surface-plasmon polaritons

Collective electronic excitations at metal surfaces are well known to play a key role in a wide spectrum of science, ranging from physics and materials science to biology. Here we focus on a theoretical description of the many-body dynamical electronic response of solids, which underlines the existence of various collective electronic excitations at metal surfaces, such as the conventional surface plasmon, multipole plasmons and the recently predicted acoustic surface plasmon. We also review existing calculations, experimental measurements and applications.

Novel low-energy collective excitation at metal surfaces

A novel collective excitation is predicted to exist at metal surfaces where a two-dimensional surface state band coexists with the underlying three-dimensional continuum. This is a low-energy acoustic plasmon with linear dispersion at small wave vectors. Since new modern spectroscopies are especially sensitive to surface dynamics near the Fermi level, the existence of surface-state–induced acoustic plasmons is expected to play a key role in a large variety of new phenomena and to create situations with potentially new physics.

Acoustic surface plasmons in the noble metals Cu, Ag, and Au

We have performed self-consistent calculations of the dynamical response of the (111) surface of the noble metals Cu, Ag, and Au. Our results indicate that the partially occupied surface-state band in these materials yields the existence of acoustic surface plasmons with linear dispersion at small wave vectors. Here we demonstrate that the sound velocity of these low-energy collective excitations, which had already been predicted to exist in the case of Be(0001), is dictated not only by the Fermi velocity of the two-dimensional surface-state band but also by the nature of the decay and penetration of the surface-state orbitals into the solid. Our linewidth calculations indicate that acoustic surface plasmons should be well defined in the energy range from zero to

First-principles calculations of hot-electron lifetimes in metals

\ensuremath{\sim}400\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{meV}

Quasiparticle dynamics on metal surfaces

.

Role of Elastic Scattering in Electron Dynamics at Ordered Alkali Overlayers on Cu(111)

First-principles calculations of the inelastic lifetime of low-energy electrons in Al, Mg, Be, and Cu are reported. Quasiparticle damping rates are evaluated from the knowledge of the electron self-energy, which we compute within the

Multiscale theoretical modeling of plasmonic sensing of hydrogen uptake in palladium nanodisks

\mathrm{GW}

Theory of acoustic surface plasmons

approximation of many-body theory. Inelastic lifetimes are then obtained along various directions of the electron wave vector, with full inclusion of the band structure of the solid. Average lifetimes are also reported, as a function of the electron energy. In Al and Mg, splitting of the band structure over the Fermi level yields electron lifetimes that are smaller than those of electrons in a free-electron gas. Larger lifetimes are found in Be, as a result of the characteristic dip that this material presents in the density of states near the Fermi level. In Cu, a major contribution from d electrons participating in the screening of electron-electron interactions yields electron lifetimes that are well above those of electrons in a free-electron gas with the electron density equal to that of valence

Surface and image-potential states onMgB2(0001)surfaces

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Surface electronic structure of metals

electrons.