Theory of spin-polarized low-energy electron diffraction from ferromagnetics

A theory of elastic scattering of low-energy electrons is outlined, in which the electron-solid interaction contains two spin-dependent contributions: an elastic exchange-correlation part in the real ion-core potential and an inelastic imaginary part describing electron-hole excitation. Numerical calculations for the Fe(110) surface predict, for an unpolarized primary beam, large spin polarization effects (up to 60%), which are highly sensitive to the magnetization of the topmost stomic layer.