Observation of an order-disorder phase transition on the Pd(110) surface

Abstract

The diffractive scattering of thermal He atoms has been used, for the first time, to investigate a phase transition (${T}_{c}$=230 K) on the clean Pd(110) surface. This transition has not previously been reported. Consideration of the beam profiles, over a range of incidence energies, suggests an order-disorder transition involving lateral displacements of the surface Pd atoms.