Cu(1 1 1) and Cu(0 0 1) surface electronic states. Comparison between theory and experiment

Recent advances in both the experimental resolution and in the computational capabilities motivate new studies of surface properties. In particular, a detailed comparison between theoretical and experimental data is expected to provide a better insight into surface and image states. In this work we present a joint effort analyzing such features of the Cu(1 1 1) and Cu(0 0 1) surfaces. The experiments are performed by using both linear and non-linear angle-resolved photoemission. From the theoretical point of view, we make use of the Green function embedding technique within density functional theory. We are able to account for the image states by suitably modifying the effective potential in the Kohn–Sham equation and the generalized boundary conditions on the Green function. Comprehensive theoretical and experimental results on the effective mass and the binding energy of the Shockley state and the first image states are reported.