Electron energy loss spectroscopy
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In electron energy loss spectroscopy a material is exposed to a beam of electrons with a known, narrow range of kinetic energies. Some of the electrons will lose energy by inelastic scattering, which is primarily an interaction of the beam electron with an electron in the sample. This inelastic scattering results in both a loss of energy and a change in momemtum.
These interactions may be phonon excitations, inter and intra band transitions, plasmon excitations or inner shell ionisations. The latter are particularly useful for detecting the elemental components of a material, as the energy transferred in such an interaction is related to the ionization potential of the atom, and therefore the spectrum can be compared to that of known samples.
The technique was developed by James Hillier and RF Baker in the mid 1940s but was not widely used over the next 50 years, only becoming more widespread in research in the 1990s due to advances in microscope instrumentation and vacuum technology.
Device used: Electron spectrometer
Notes
The technique of EELS was originally proposed and demonstrated by Hillier and Baker (J. Appl. Phys. (1944) 15, 663)
See also
External links
{{cite journal
| author = Hillier, J and Baker, R.F. | year = 1944 | month = September | title = Microanalysis by means of electrons | journal = J. Appl. Phys. | volume = 15 | issue = 9 | pages = 663-675 | id = | url = http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1707491 }}Template:Physics-stub