Photoemission from Al(100) and (111): Experiment and ab initio theory

Owing to its simplicity aluminum is of fundamental importance for solid-state theory and thus has been a popular object of experimental and ab initio studies. Electronic structure of low index surfaces of aluminum has been theoretically addressed many times both within a semi-infinite crystal and within a supercell slab approach. A number of angle-resolved photoemission measurement have been reported, however, a consistent theory that would describe the observed energy distribution curves including the emission from surface states has not yet been published. In this work we present a combined experimental and theoretical study of the normal emission from Al(100) and (111) surfaces with the aim to provide an interpretation of the observed bulk and surface-state photoemission in terms of complex band structure of semi-infinite crystal. By adjusting the energy dependent self-energy shift and the inelastic-scattering rate we obtain a convincing agreement of the one-step photoemission calculation with the experiment.

Physical Review B 78, 165406 (2008).