Angle Resolved Electron Energy Loss Study on the Inner Shell Excited States of Ne

Abstract

Electron-energy loss (EEL) is a successful tool to investigate inner-shell excitations of atoms and molecules^1,2. In this technique a beam of energetic electrons is used to excite inner-shell transitions. The energy lost by the inelastically scattered electrons produces the excitation of the inner-shell state and the yield of the detected electrons provides information about the relative cross section for the excitation of the inner-shell state at that value of the incident energy. Then the dependence of the cross section from the momentum transfer in the collision can be studied by changing the scattering angle of the inelastically scattered electron. This latter characteristic together with the possibility to excite dipole forbidden transitions makes EEL a complementary technique to photoabsorption experiments. An important motivation for the study of inelastic collisions of electrons stems for the need of reliable cross section data in such diverse field as radiation physics, plasma physics, atmospheric physics, astrophysics and electron microscopy.