The surface atomic arrangements and the electronic states of vanadium
(110) and (111) single crystals have been investigated at room tempera
ture with low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and electron spectros
copic techniques. LEED was observed with a CCD camera. The LEED patter
n of the most densely packed (I 10) plane showed no extra features bey
ond those expected for the bulk, while the (111) surface was observed
to reconstruct into a (square-root 3 x square-root 3)R30-degrees super
structure. Electron energy loss spectra for both specimens were also m
easured with primary electrons in the low energy range from 100 to 300
eV. The loss peaks observed for the (110) and (111) surfaces could be
attributed to such common energy losses as bulk and surface plasmons,
interband transitions and inner-shell excitations. However, the magni
tudes of the observed plasmon loss energy with low energy incidence fo
r the (111) surface differ from values calculated on the basis of Ritc
hie's formula [Phys. Rev. 106 (1957) 874].