Quasielastic electron scattering in EuO: A possible explanation for the observed "paramagnetic" spin-polarized photoemission

Photoemission secondary-electron energy distributions and yield measurements for (100) EuO show that "quasielastic" rather than inelastic electron scattering dominates the photoemission escape process for electrons excited within a few eV of threshold. In this "quasielastic" scattering regime (with a large effective escape depth ∼ 50-100), it is suggested that the spin polarization need not be conserved in the photoemission escape process, and that reported "paramagnetic" spin-polarized photoemission at 10 °K is possibly due to quasielastic spin-flip scattering. © 1973 The American Physical Society.