Electron transmission and mean free path in molybdenum disulfide at electron-volt energies

Journal article (2023)

Authors

Peter S. Neu Universiteit Leiden
M. Siskins Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft, Dynamics of Micro and Nano Systems - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
Eugene E. Krasovskii Basque Foundation for Science, Donostia International Physics Center, University of the Basque Country
Rudolf M. Tromp Universiteit Leiden, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Centre
S.J. van der Molen Universiteit Leiden
Research Group
Dynamics of Micro and Nano Systems (Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2023 Peter S. Neu, M. Siskins, Eugene E. Krasovskii, Rudolf M. Tromp, Sense Jan Van Der Molen
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.107.075427
More Info
expand_more

Published Date

2023

Language

English

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Faculty

Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

Department

Precision and Microsystems Engineering

Research Group

Dynamics of Micro and Nano Systems

Abstract

In van der Waals (vdW) materials, the electron mean free path (MFP) is largely influenced by the discrete states in the unoccupied band structure. So far, the influence of these states has only been measured in graphene, while all measurements on other vdW materials lack energy resolution. Here, we present reflection and transmission spectra of freestanding, few-layered molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) samples in the 0-55 eV electron range. Our measurements reveal states of enhanced electron transmissivity above the vacuum level, that correspond to the (unoccupied) density of states. We also show a full quantum-mechanical calculation that confirms a good understanding of the elastic scattering in MoS2. A model is developed to extract the inelastic MFP spectrum, which is a measure of the inelastic scattering cross section. As MoS2 is a complicated system of different atomic planes, we expect that our methods generalize well to other van der Waals materials and heterostacks thereof.

Files

PhysRevB.107.075427.pdf
(pdf | 1.32 Mb)
Unknown license