Spin Polarized Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy on Fe(100) Thin Films Grown on Ag(100)

We report sharp spin-dependent energy loss features in electron scattering from bcc Fe(100) thin films grown on Ag(100). Majority spin features are observed at {approx}1.8 and 2.5 eV energy loss, and a minority spin feature is observed at {approx}2.0 eV energy loss. The majority spin peaks are attributed to spin-flip exchange scattering from the Fe films, with the lowest energy feature corresponding to the exchange splitting for the Fe. The minority spin peak is attributed to non-flip exchange scattering with an energy corresponding to the separation between occupied and unoccupied minority spin bands.