Theory of spin-flip excitations across the ferromagnetic stoner gap in electron energy loss

We present calculations based on a simplified band model of the spin-flip cross section expected in electron energy loss in a ferromagnetic metal. It is shown how direct production of Stoner excitations can lead to observable features in both spin polarized and ordinary EELS spectra. A strong primary electron energy dependence is predicted for all these spin-flip features, in agreement with recent experiments.