Inelastic quasiparticle lifetimes of the Shockley surface state band on Ni(111)

We present a study of the low-energy quasiparticle lifetimes of the Shockley surface state on the Ni(111) surface with scanning tunnelling spectroscopy. By measuring the coherence length of the decaying standing wave pattern at straight step edges electron and hole lifetimes have been determined. The values of the lifetime measured on this ferromagnetic surface show to be considerable smaller than the values obtained from noble metal surfaces. This is explained by differences in the electron density of states at the Fermi energy but has to include substantial spin-flip scattering. Furthermore hole lifetimes appear to be larger than electron lifetimes with the same excitation energy. Although only results for the majority spin component are presented, a spin-dependent selfenergy is expected.