Energy loss spectroscopy of Buckminster C60 with twisted electrons: Influence of orbital angular momentum transfer on plasmon generation

Recent experimental progress in creating and controlling singular electron beams that carry orbital angular momentum allows for new types of local spectroscopies. We theoretically investigate the twisted-electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) from the C60 fullerene. Of particular interest are the strong multipolar collective excitations and their selective response to the orbital angular momentum of the impinging electron beam. Based on ab-initio calculations for the collective response we compute EELS signals with twisted electron beams and uncover the interplay between the plasmon polarity and the amount of angular momentum transfer.