Infrared photoemission from a pure gold surface: Validation of the lucky-electron model - art. no. 187403

We have observed a strong dependence of the photoelectron current with the sample temperature in a midinfrared laser-surface interaction experiment. W e show that classical mechanics is. able to interpret this unexpected pheno menon. This is demonstrated with a "lucky-electron" simulation based on a p hase-matching condition between the temperature dependent mean electronic c ollision time and the laser electric field. This opens ways for measurement s of temperature dependent effective scattering rate in the midinfrared.