[Abstract list] [Previous] [Home]

Phys. Rev. B 72 035443 (2005).

Resonator design for use in scanning tunneling spectroscopy studies of surface electron lifetimes

S Crampin

Department of Physics, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom

H. Jensen, J. Kröger, L. Limot, and R. Berndt

Institut für Experimentelle und Angewandte Physik, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, D-24098 Kiel, Germany

Abstract
We derive expressions for the lossy boundary-scattering contribution to the linewidth of surface electronic states confined with atomic corrals and island resonators. Correcting experimentally measured linewidths for these contributions along with thermal and intrumental broadening enables intrinsic many-body lifetimes due to electron-electron and electron-phonon scattering to be determined. In small resonators lossy-scattering dominates linewidths whilst different scaling of widths and separations cause levels to merge in large resonators. Our results enable the design of resonators suitable for lifetime studies.