UV-photoemission measurements on erbium and samarium

Photoemission measurements have been made on samarium and erbium in the photon energy range 4 to 21 eV. The photoelectron energy distributions are dominated by electron emission from valence band states whereas emission from 4f-states is unimportant. The width and energy of the occupied and unoccupied 5d-bands has been determined as well as the energy relative to the Fermi level of the bottom of the valence band. A model for the unscattered yield is presented allowing a determination of the hot electron scattering length for some rare-earths using available optical and photoemission data.