Inelastic photoemission due to scattering by surface adsorbate vibrations

By measuring the very low energy photoemission spectra of the CO/Cu(001) surface with a high resolution, we have found the energy loss components due to inelastic scattering of electrons near the Fermi level by the CO vibrational modes. The main energy loss structure appears as a step at 254 meV below the Fermi edge for (CO)-C-12-O-16. An isotope shift of the step to 240 meV was observed when (CO)-C-13-O-18 was adsorbed. This observation confirms that this step arises from the energy loss of photoelectrons near the Fermi level through the excitation of the C-O stretching mode.