Dynamics of excited electrons in metals, thin films and nanostructures

The immense progress in the field of ultrashort pulsed lasers made it possible to study ultrafast dynamics of photoexcited hot electrons in metals by means of a variety of pump-probe techniques. Time-resolved two-photon photoemission has the capability of directly monitoring the dynamics of electrons with specific energy and momentum during the course of the transformation of a nascent (as photoexcited) nonthermal electron distribution to an excited Fermi-Dirac distribution. The main purpose of this investigation was to gain a basic understanding of the dynamics of single excited electrons at a metal surface, particularly in an energy region which is important for surface photochemistry and catalytic model reactions (E-F20 eV, UPS mode) and high lateral resolution (PEEM mode). (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.