A Spin-Resolved Photoemission Study of Photohole Lifetimes in Ferromagnetic Gadolinium

High resolution spin-resolved photoemission is used to probe the properties of a Gd(0001) surface state. The state shows both a spin-mixing behavior reflecting the exchange of magnons with the local moments and a reduction of the exchange splitting with increasing temperature. The surface state polarization at low T suggests that the surface layer has an enhanced Tc of 365K or greater. Measurements of the photoemission linewidths show that at low temperatures, the lifetime of a majority spin photohole is predominantly limited by electron-phonon scattering and that of a minority spin photohole by electron-magnon scattering. Since similar behavior may be expected for bulk states close to the Fermi level, the transport properties of this material will also be determined by different decay mechanisms in the two channels.