Ultrafast electronic response of Ag(111) and Cu(111) surfaces: From early excitonic transients to saturated image potential
We investigate the evolution of attosecond to femtosecond screening and emergent potentials that govern the dynamics and energetics of electrons and holes excited in the various stages of multiphoton photoemission processes and control the photoelectron yield in recently reported experiments [X. Cui, C. Wang, A. Argondizzo, S. Garrett-Roe, B. Gumhalter, and H. Petek, Nat. Phys. 10, 505 (2014)]. The study is focused on the dynamical screening of holes created in preexistent quasi-two-dimensional Shockley state bands on Ag(111) and Cu(111) surfaces and of electrons excited to the intermediate and emerging screened states. Using the formalism of self-consistent electronic response, we analyze first the effects of screening on the dynamics of photoexcited electrons and holes and then of the Coulomb correlated photoexcited pair. Special attention is paid to the correlated primary electron-hole states, which commence as transient surface excitons and develop in the course of screening into uncorrelated electrons and holes propagating in the image potential and surface state bands, respectively. The obtained results enable to establish a consistent picture of transient electron dynamics at Ag(111) and Cu(111) surfaces that are becoming accessible by the time-, energy-, and momentum-resolved pump-probe multiphoton photoelectron spectroscopies.