Electron energy losses and cathodoluminescence from complex plasmonic nanostructures: spectra, maps and radiation patterns from a generalized field propagator

We present a unified framework for the description of the interaction of fast electrons with complex nanostructures based on the Green dyadic method. We show that the computation of a generalized field propagator yields the electron energy losses and cathodoluminescence of nano-objects of arbitrary morphologies embedded in complex dielectric media. Spectra and maps for both penetrating and non-penetrating electron trajectories are provided. This numerical approach can be extended to describe complex experiments involving fast electrons and optically excited nanostructures. (paper)