Photoelectron driven acoustic surface plasmons in p(2x2)K/Be(0001): Ab initio calculations

Journal article, 2010

We report on low-energy dynamical surface response properties of the p(2×2)K/Be(0001) system calculated within a first-principles approach. It is shown that a partly occupied adsorbate-induced quantum-well band dramatically affects the dynamical properties of the beryllium surface. We demonstrate clear evidence that the observed anomalous features in photoemission spectra of this and a similar system can be explained by acoustic surface plasmon excitations.