Electron energy-loss spectroscopy fine structure of the Cu L₂,₃ionization edge in substitutional Cu-Ni alloys

We present a study of Cu-Ni alloys with different Ni concentrations using electron energy-loss spectroscopy in order to establish a relationship between the Ni concentration and the energy-loss near-edge structures of the Cu L 3 ionization edge. The experimental results are compared with ab initio band-structure calculations made with the WIEN97 and TELNES packages. We found excellent agreement between experiment and simulation making use of a supercell for modelling the Cu-Ni alloy. We were able to interpret the evolution of the fine structures in terms of local and global composition.