Excitation of Plasmons and Interband Transitions by Electrons

"This book treats the physics of Electron Loss Spectroscopy (ELS) with electrons of different energies. Its emphasis is on the collective excitations or plasmons in the bulk as well as on the surface, including interaction with the interband transitions. A discussion of the experimental and theoretical aspects helps to define the current state of the art. In addition to the general physics, data on the plasmons (energy, halfwidth, dispersion) obtained by different methods of observation (transmission and reflection with fast and slow electrons) have been collected as completely as possible. Mr. R. Manzke was helpful in gathering these figures. Related topics such as coupling of plasmons with light, Cerenkov radiation and waveguides, plasmons in electron gases of one and two dimensions together with some applications (microanalysis) are briefly described to round off the representation and to demonstrate the usefulness of the plasmon concept."--Preface.