Spin polarization of secondary electrons in transition metals: Theory

A theory of the spin polarization of the secondary electrons in transition metals and glasses is presented. In contrast to the secondary-electron intensity distribution, the spin polarization is shown to yield useful information about the electron-electron interaction. The ratio of the lifetimes of majority- to minority-spin electrons can be determined directly from the measured values of the spin polarization P(E) by ${\tau }_{\uparrow }$(E)/${\tau }_{\downarrow }$(E)=[(1-$p_B$)/( 1+$p_B$)][1+P(E)]/[1-P(E)], where $p_B$ is the bulk magnetization. The theory is applied to both Fe and Ni.