Application of the semiclassical perturbation approximation to scattering from surfaces. Generalization to include phonon inelasticity

Abstract

The semiclassical perturbation (SCP) approximation of Miller and Smith is applied to the inelastic scattering of atoms from solid surfaces. Earlier applications of this approach have been to diffraction (i.e., elastic scattering) of He from LiF and to diffraction and rotationally inelastic scattering of H2 from LiF, and the present work is an extension which allows for motion of the surfaces atoms (and thus phonon inelasticity). Therefore, phenomena that involve energy transfer between the surface and gas molecules can be described. In the present work sticking probabilities are calculated for He–W(110) and Ne–W(110), and the results show that a simple model such as this one can be quite useful in predicting energy transfer in gas–solid scattering systems.