Phys. Rev. B 53 (1996) pp. 13817-13823

Integrity of quantum-well resonances in metallic overlayers

S. Crampin

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

S. De Rossi and F. Ciccacci

Istituto Nazionale di Fisica della Materia-Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milano, Italy

Abstract
Spin-polarized quantum well states in Ag/Fe(001) have been studied by spin-resolved inverse photoemission and ab-initio electronic structure calculations. We find excellent agreement between predicted and measured sp-quantum well states, including majority-spin resonances previously unobserved in this system. These exhibit unusual behaviour, narrowing as they move further into the continuum energy range. With increasing Ag coverage the resonance widths are shown to reduce in line with level spacings, indicating the quantum well levels retain their integrity in thick films.