Electron Energy Loss Function of Silicene and Germanene Multilayers on Silver

Abstract

We calculate electron energy loss spectra (EELS) for composite plasmonic structures based on silicene and germanene. A continued-fraction expression for the effective dielectric function is used to perform multiscale calculations of EELS for both silicene and germanene-based structures on silver substrates. A distinctive change in plasmonic response occurs for structures with a germanene or silicene surface coating of more than three layers. These differences may be exploited using spectroscopic characterization in order to determine if a few-layer coating has been successfully fabricated.