Plasmon energy losses in Al-Zn alloys

Abstract
Measurements have been made of the energy losses in fast electrons transmitted through thin films of Al-Zn alloys containing up to 50 wt. % Zn. The measurements show that the determination of concentrations in this alloy system by energy loss techniques will not be very accurate. The variation of the plasma energy with concentration cannot be described simply by accounting for changes in the electron density. A simple model is developed to account for the measurements, and the information deduced from this model is used to identify prominent detail in the energy loss spectrum of zinc.