Anisotropy of the angle resolved electron attenuation at crystal surfaces

Photoemission multiple scattering theory is used to describe the electron transport in the surface region of a crystal. Intensities of photoemission from core levels of atoms situated in subsurface atomic layers are calculated as a function of the emitter distance from the surface. The electron angle resolved attenuation length (ARAL) is extracted from the exponential fitting of the intensity decays of photoemission into different directions. Substantial anisotropy of the electron ARAL is found for the Cu(1 1 1) surface in Mg Kα photoexcitation of Cu 2p_3/2 levels and correlated with the orientation of highly packed atomic rows. Enhanced photoemission contributions from specific subsurface layers, caused by electron forward focusing effects, are reported.