Electron–exciton complexes and the maxima in low‐energy electron transmission spectroscopy

Electron–exciton complexes have already been proposed to explain small bumps in the low‐energy electron transmission spectra of some hydrocarbon films. We discuss two mechanisms by which these should be maxima. The first is a scattering model which incorporates the electron ↔ electron–exciton complex transformation. The analysis allows us to set bounds to the various mean‐free paths involved for a maximum in transmission. The second, which assumes radiative decay of the complex, seems somewhat inefficient.