Photo-Induced Image Current

We study the possibility of the generation of the photo-induced image currents at a distance from the surface of nano-sized metal clusters by using time-dependent perturbation theory. We reveal that the wave function of an electron excited to the image state is localized outside the surface and current flows in a spherical shell whose radius is a few times the radius of the sphere. Spin polarized light has been applied to a perfect icosahedral metal cluster Li$_{13}$ whose optimization is achieved by molecular dynamic simulation and band structure is obtained by DFT method and by solution of radial Schr\"odinger equation. Up to our knowledge, despite the great effort on their characteristics, image electrons have not been the subject of the studies on photo-induced current.