Spin-resolved photoemission from (111) surfaces of Pd, Ir and Pt by circularly polarised light: theory and comparison with experiment

A fully relativistic one-step theory of photoemission has been applied to calculate spin-resolved normal-emission spectra induced by circularly polarised photons between 6 and 25 eV from the unreconstructed (111) surfaces of Pd, Ir and Pt. Consistent with the simultaneously calculated bulk band structures, individual spectral features are identified as bulk interband transitions and one-dimensional density of states transitions between initial and final states of specific double-group symmetry types. Theoretical peaks have experimental counterparts, with some deviations (up to 0.3 eV) in energy, but the observed spectra exhibit in addition 'ghost peaks' reflecting dominant peaks in the opposite-spin spectra, which-beyond experimental artifact-indicates some spin-flip process. Relative peak heights are in reasonable agreement except for an observed enhancement for photon energies such that the final states are associated with a flat f-like band.