Determination of Optical Properties of Solids from Reflection Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy Spectra

We present high precision determination of electron energy loss functions and thereby the optical constants, n and k, of solids from the measured, high energy resolution reflection electron energy-loss spectroscopy (REELS) spectra, covering the spectral energy range from visible to vacuum ultraviolet. The calculations are based on our recently developed reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) method. The RMC method combines a Monte Carlo modelling of electron transportation for REELS spectrum simulation, including both the elastic and inelastic collisions, with a Markov chain Monte Carlo calculation of parameterized energy loss function, Im [-1/epsilon(omega)]. We found that our calculated optical data of elements fulfill the sum rules with very high accuracy; therefore, the use of this calculated optical data in material science and surface analysis is highly recommended for further applications.